[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/546056855978377216/858843614732615700/hgtrfed.png[/img][/center] [center]Word Count: 815 [/center] [center][color=00aeef][b]Level 5[/b] [/color] - (97/50) + 2[/center] [center][color=darkgreen]Level 9 [/color] - (80/90) + 2[/center] [hr][hr] [center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center] [center]Location: The Bottomless Sea ~ The Maw - Larry's Butcher Shop [/center] [@Zoey Boey] [hr] It was never ending with this place. For a moment Bella was safe. Engorged, crying, terrified, but at the very least safe and in her right mind. She had run off to embrace the other girls, not devour them. The relief he felt from seeing that nearly brought him to his knees amid the ash that had once been the bald chef, the adrenalin born from trauma ceasing to flow through him. He had bought himself just a little leeway with moldering old carrots, but he knew he couldn't go on like this much longer. He thought for a brief moment that it was lucky she was so big now, because she was probably going to have to carry him out. Geralt looked much in the same boat, the weariness in his eyes reflected in Link's own. Then the food monsters... [i]Oh, the food monsters...[/i] Like a man in the desert dying of thirst driven forward by spotting an oasis fresh danger compelled him to move again. He had been right about the chefs below, and these two floating cronies of theirs were likely only the vanguard. The others leaped into action after the Abyssal princess had been transformed, Peach and the Koopas putting up a royal wall between the hungry wizard and its target even as Sakura attempted to drag the Tempurella out of harms way. She was swiftly joined by Glenn, who left his vigil by the door to help get the tempura to safety. Link hoped that transformation wasn't permanent, both because it would kill him inside if she was gone and for purely practical reasons. That tailgun of hers was one of their only effective weapons. For now they needed something to fill her place. As Rika and the small group of Koopa's Bowser had managed to scrounge together from somewhere opened up on the second wizard with whatever they had on hand Link's eyes alighted on the rainbow mote of light at his feet. The thought made his stomach turn, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Anything was a weapon. He reached down and grabbed the fat mans spirit in his hands, stumbling forward behind the mans cutting table to get away from the prying eye of the second wizard. The last thing he needed was to get transformed into fried fish during his hasty negotiation. He kept his pitch simple. "Listen you." He said, bringing the spirit up to his face. "I'm twice the chef that bushy faced ingrate down there is and can more than appreciate fresh meat. Be my arm and you'll get all the exotic meat you can chop, starting with those two. Come on, you must have wondered if their heads were cooked all the way through or not." He hoped that was enough to pique the butchers interest. If it was, and this fat psycho did decide to become his Striker, he was going to use him immediately on the wizard rushing blindly after Bella. [hr][hr] [center][h1][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h1][/center] [center][h2][color=red]Merge Rate: 32%[/color][/h2][/center] [center]Location: Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline ~ Wildwood Glades[/center] [hr][hr] Linkle clammed up and listened when he two companions started talking about themselves. The lady had an estranged son of her own, who had set off into the world and left her behind. She felt bad for the woman but couldn't help but sympathize with him at the same time, whoever he was. If Linkle's grandmother had been around to disapprove of her setting out and fulfilling her destiny she would have done the same thing, regardless of how much it would have hurt the both of them. Though, Linkle would have made sure to come back afterward and accept whatever punishment the old woman had planned for her. Maybe being thrown into this world, losing the option of going home again, would make the boy come to his senses. He might even be looking for her right now, she supposed. She would have to keep an eye out for him, along with people with rabbit ears, kids in animal masks, The Master Sword, Sucrose, and, well, an eyeball. That list was getting pretty long, and it was about to get longer. Albedo had another important woman in his life, one young and spry enough to take him out on her adventures. To think, she had taken the boy for a city mouse. It sounded like he had gotten out of the lab far more than she had ever gotten out of her village. Add Mysterious Lady Alchemist to the list. Their conversation came to a pause as they came to a clearing, the lady bending down and picking up a clump of dirt. She tossed it at a wall of vines, said a magic work and... "You're the witch!" Linkle echoed Albedo as the vines pulled apart in a show of magic. Unlike her companion she had been taken completely by surprise. They came upon a tree in the middle of the glade that had been reveled and, noticing Albedo eyeing it in a way she had come to recognize and categorize as his "Fascinating" look dutifully snapped a picture and passed the photo to him for his notebook. Then the witch said another magic word, and to her wonder the tree rose up on the back of a giant turtle to reveal the witches abode. This too Linkle snapped and again she passed the photo to her friend. As they approached the door and their hostess graciously invited them inside Linkle stopped in the doorway and kicked the dirt of her boots before she came inside and took a look around. It was all surprisingly homey. She had expected something more witchy. The skulls fit the bill, but the cauldron in the fireplace was more pot sized and as she approached the fire she couldn't smell anything particularly disgusting boiling in it. In fact, it seemed to be water as the woman began preparing them tea. There was a broom over there, but it looked like the regular kind of broom you swept up dust with. "If you don't mind me saying so," Linkle started, settling down on the edge of the bed as close to the fire as she could get, "You're not what I expected when I heard about a witch." She looked around again as if to double check. Nope. Didn't even have the hat. "And you don't feel like you've got any witchiness shining out of your soul either. I'm really glad you found us though, Miss...," Oh, right. "I'm sorry, we never asked your name."