[center][h1][color=00aeef]Hyrule[/color] [color=darkgreen] Warriors[/color][/h1][/center]

[center][color=00aeef][b]Level 3[/b][/color] - (14/30) + 3 [/center]

[center][color=darkgreen][b]Level 8[/b][/color] - (53/80) + 3 [/center]

[center]Word Count:1360 [/center]

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[center][h1][color=darkgreen] Linkle [/color][/h1][/center]

[center][b]Location[/b]: The Dead Zone, Argent Tower[/center]

As Linkle back up toward the teleporter to get a little more breathing room Bowser literally threw himself into the breach, batting away the big monster that had smashed a hole in her wall like a children toy before getting thrown himself and isolated. Monsters swarmed him and Linkle was about to respond to his call for aide when Blazermate, almost casually, beat her to it and floated across the room to give him the full attention of her healing beam. The urgency of that situation instantly plummeted, and was replaced with another. 

The tell tale crack of gunfire and the the familiar, bee sting like pain of buckshot in her shoulder brought to her attention the fact that some of the gunners were now making their way around or over the wall. To add on to the bad news the melee forms that were still closing on her seemed to find her arrows more of an annoyance than anything, driven forward by the unrelenting will of the wrigglers buried in their bodies. The little guys drove the big ones like you would drive a kart, and the big ones that hadn't been blown to bits by bombs or incinerated were getting new drivers all the time. 

She sprang forward as one of the melee forms did, ducking under its claw and pumping a few useless arrows into as she passed before jumping at the one behind it. Her foot erupted in fire as she delivered a high kick to the parasite in its chest, scooping it out as it was engulfed. Bereft of its driver the body of what was once a man fell down, and as he did Linkle put her boots on his back and ran down him toward the nearest group of flood.

The gunner leveled his weapon at her as she closed the distance, but the shot went over her head as she dropped, skidding across the tiled floor on her knees and placing one hand on the ground. She'd used ice as a barrier, and ice as a projectile. What about barrier as a projectile?

The gunner fired again as Linkle swept her hand upward, a thorny tower of ice erupting as she did. The shot scattered the ice into diamond dust. At least, it did the first one. Linkle was surprised to see another erupt from the ground in front of where the first had been. This one shattered as well, but not to any sort of attack. It seemed as though it shattered to make way for the next, then the next, then the next. In a matter of moments the ice reached the gunner, springing up directly under it and lifting it into the air impaled upon the crystal thorns before that ice, too, shattered and dropped the monster to the ground. It never reached earth. In the instant it began to drop Linkle had already sprung up and closed the distance, leaping into the air and delivering a spin kick to the creatures chest that froze the parasite solid where it had burrowed into its victims body. It tumbled through the air, slamming into the flood behind it that as Linkle landed. A wet pop threw more of the little wrigglers into the air as one of the carriers exploded from the impact. They swarmed the body, desperately prying the frozen one from the chest cavity so one could resume control when they were obliterated in a spray of bolts. 

The arrows of course didn't do so much damage to the melee forms behind them, but that was why Linkle was already moving. She reached the body as the flood were springing up and wrenched the shotgun from its grip. One started to swing at her, but she jammed the weapon into its chest and pulled the trigger. A explosion of greenish gore erupted from the monsters chest even as she dodged back from the retaliatory strikes of its fellows, a grin on her face. Like she'd suspected, this weapon seemed much more effective on the things.

Perhaps sensing all the fun Linkle was having a armored kart picked that moment to shatter her ice wall into a million pieces. The teleporter they had all used to get here suffered the same fate as the kart through as arc of electricity at it, forcing her to dodge out of the way lest she be caught up in the destruction. The hooded man made a valiant effort to kill the driver before teleportation over where they had gathered, his hood falling down and delivering his assessment of these monsters, the Flood. That they would not stop.

Linkle shook her head, blasting another combat form as it got close. "Daxter is right, we just have to kill the boss of this place." She said, looking around for the sort of root monster the little furry guy had described. "It'll show up if we kill enough of these guys. I haven't even broken 500 yet."

Linkle, however, seemed to be overruled. Jak, his new friend, Blazermate, even Bowser all opted for the tactical retreat though the latter two had decided to retreat in style by stealing another of the enemies vehicles. Linkle supported that plan, blasting at the Flood forms that tried to interrupt the big turtles wrestling match with the car for as long as her shotgun ammo lasted her before switching back to her crossbows and harrying them with bombs. When the car finally reversed out the door into the unknown and Bowser hacked his last two parting shots past her at their enemies Linkle hesitated to leave. She felt sure that these guys wouldn't stop bothering them until they took this place, but the boss said retreat. 

She felt power welling up in the pit of her stomach, a dam bursting inside her. "I could have gone all day!" She shouted at them as she spun, fire and force exploding out of her popping the smaller forms and sending the large once spinning through the sky engulfed in flames. She surveyed the blast radius for just a second, satisfied that she'd bought at least a little more time to breath, then sprinted off after the others.

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[center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center]

So, it seemed this was all disturbingly literal after all. 

Link listened intently to the reactions of the others. Some dismissed the idea outright, other wanted to modify or poke holes in it, some wanted to find a way to avoid riding it at all. All the while, everything the woman said stoked the fires of Links exploratory spirit. Dangerous places like the Maw didn't hold any terror for him. Indeed, the more he heard the more drawn to the place he felt. He truly wanted to ride it, to see inside, to meet this mysterious dark lady that commanded it and, if it were truly spiriting its guest away never to be seen again, to put an end to the vile thing. 

"I like the Prince's plan, personally." He said. "Conquer the Maw. Though we could stand to be a little more subtle than charging up the deck and picking a fight. Thank you for the information." He bowed his head respectfully to the woman in black before turning and heading up the gangplank to the pirates ship, taking his cues from the little girl and saluting the captain when he saw him. He'd had the pleasure of boarding one sea worthy vessel in his entire post-amnesia life, and that one had been small and tied up at dock. This one, though? This one was big enough to make for a fine house.

At one of the girls questions he shrugged. He didn't really know what a pirate was, and found no reason to be intimidated by the giant scalawag. "It's good of you to carry us to Limsa, sir. From what our friend in black told us it's not very safe waters. You must have fought off a few terrible sea monsters in your time. Any tales to tell?"

If they were going to Limsa to find facts and, perhaps, strong allies then there wasn't any reason not to start early.