[center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center]
    
    [center]Word Count: 1102[/center]
    [center][color=00aeef][b]Level 5[/b] [/color] - (50/50) + 2[/center]

[center]Location: The Bottomless Sea[/center] 
[hr]

"I feel like we're all talking about different things using the same word." Link said as Sakura told him about her wild man friend. He glanced over at Bella and felt a pang of guilt over the effect his and the Cadets words had on her. Peach and Ms. Fortune managed to sooth the girl's heart, and that was because Peach was ultimately right: if you weren't a monster after you were freed from Galeem's influence you definitely hadn't been before. He didn't know the whole story behind her and Rika, but he couldn't help but compare the two to the Guardians. Maybe they had been empty vessels, filled with a darker purpose by some unknown Malice. "Sorry, Bella. If you're able to cry like that now you weren't a monster at any point. They're a lot simpler than that. It's like Cadet said, they're more instinct based."

Even Cadet's definition, however, seemed to differentiate from Link's. The way he seemed to consider the little animal that had joined him at his side to be a "monster" proved that. He pointed at it. "That can't be a monster, for example. Because a monster's first instinct would be to eat your leg." Geralt's definition was even stranger to him, because it seemed like in his world there were people that could talk and be reasoned with that somehow counted as a monster. It seemed like some people even considered [i]him[/i] to be a monster, which he wasn't sure how to process. Sure, Bowser would be an easy mistake to make before he opened his mouth and told you to knock it off but what about Geralt was particularly monstrous? 

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill your friend.” He reassured Sakura’s pouty face. “There’s more to it than just looking scary. It’s an…” He struggled to find a correct way to say this, but the most appropriate way he found was also distressingly understated. “It’s an attitude problem.”

[hr]

As they arrived at the base of the light they had been following they found what looked like an enormous building. What this thing had been built on he had no idea. It wasn’t floating in the water, because it wasn’t moving with the roughness of the sea. He wondered if the complex incorporated the same kid of technology that let the Atomos hang in the air without wings or a propeller. Regardless, he understood technology that was way beyond his understanding when he saw it. 

Ms. Fortune was first off the ship, and as he watched her creep along the ground without making a sound above the pitter-patter of rain he couldn't help but smile. Stealthy approaches were always appreciated by him, especially now. He waited for her to give the all clear, and while he did there was some business to take care of. If they were going to be exploring an unknown, quite possible enemy infested, structure he was going to need his legs back. He approached Peach, and after a few moments and a flash of golden light he was back to his old self with the spirit of the abyssal in hand. He stowed it, hoping that it would last long enough that he could fuse again if he suddenly needed to. He couldn't help but feel a little sad at the parting, and wished he had an opportunity to swim like the creatures did without them trying to kill him. While he was managing his inventory he was disappointed to find that the helmet and the other gauntlet had vanished from his collection, no doubt because he had given up the spirit. That meant he had to find another unusual weapon to dazzle the blacksmith sisters with.

Maybe this new gauntlet. He lifted it from the pile of loot he’d gathered earlier, the thing feeling much heavier than his old gauntlets. He could still swing it if he had to, but there was no way he could still throw punches like he could in the battle earlier today. The dark iron armor was also heavy, but no heavier than he had felt before. He glanced over at Geralt, big target Geralt with the big hole in his armor that screamed “stab me here.” Before they disembarked he slapped both armor plates onto the dark iron armor for extra protection and approached the witcher and offered both the armor and cestus. “Hey Geralt. These seem more your size than mine. You want?”

Regardless of how the man answered Link collected the broken sword, lamented the fact that his plane had never returned from its mission, documented his entire stock of weapons, switched out to his normal trousers, and hopped off the ship to follow Princess Peach.

On the way inside he saw the pair in the tent that Ms. Fortune had described as “drunk as skunks.” One looked human, but the other appeared to be some kind of hideous tentacled skull. Both were sleeping very deeply, though, if they could ignore Ms. Fortunes shouts so he didn’t see any reason to take care of them just yet. 

They continued on inside, out of the rain and down the stairs right to the edges of a deep hole in the ground. Link whistled as he stepped right to the edge and stared down into the abyss. What on earth could be down there? Not more water, it turned out. Peach got everyone's attention by fiddling with so console, displaying a map of a massive underwater labyrinth. Ms. Fortune and Geralt seemed at a loss as to whether or not they should even go down there, but Link just raised the Shiekah Slate and snapped a picture of the holographic map. Sakura was all for going down there, and Link had to agree that it was probably their best option at this point, but Kamek gave word to fears that were already surfacing in his mind. Bella couldn't walk well, a feeling he was now all too familiar with, and it would necessarily entail leaving Shippy behind. Alone and unprotected on the choppy seas above, with all the monsters. “We need more information.” He said. 

He had no objections to Bowser’s idea at all, and followed the king back out into the rain if no one else stopped them. He followed the king into the tent and stood at his side, putting on his best royal bodyguard face as Bowser put on his practiced impression of an irate boss and ready to call a weapon into his hand and swing at one of these two if they were violent instead of smart.