Legend of Zelda: Chalice of Destiny

[Gardevoir Master]

((Someone said to make a Legend of Zelda RP, so I thought, "Why not?" It's kinda the exact opposite of what he suggested, though.))

In the beginning, the world consisted of nothing but chaos, a black, swirling substance that never remained in one state for very long. And then, from the heavens, three goddesses came. The first goddess brought stability to the chaos, and created the land of Hyrule. The second goddess brought life to the land, and plants and trees grew in it. The third goddess then created animals, people, and monsters to live on the land. Their work done, the three goddesses departed for the Sacred Realm, and the Triforce appeared in the spot where they departed.

Many have quested for the Triforce, believing it to be a source of mystical power. To ensure that it wouldn't fall into evil hands, the Triforce was entrusted to the King of Hyrule, who kept it locked away in the Temple of Light. However, he was tricked and betrayed by Gannondorf, King of the Gerudo, who stole the Triforce and used it to bring darkness and terror to the land and its people. The King of Hyrule fought back with his armies, but Gannondorf overwhelmed them with is legions of monsters and terrible black magic. Gannondorf claimed the land of Hyrule for his own and kept the king's daughter, Zelda, hostage.

Zelda, however, was not the weak, little girl Gannondorf thought she was. Using her own light magic, Zelda broke the Triforce into three and sent the pieces to those worthy to possess them. Gannondorf managed to hold onto the Triforce of Power, and Zelda received the Triforce of Wisdom. The third piece, the Triforce of Courage, went to a boy clad in green by the name of Link.

Link proved himself quite worthy of the Triforce of Courage, and journeyed forth into the land on a quest to vanquish. Gannondorf sent his strongest monsters to stop him, but Link proved far too resourceful and defeated each monster one by one. Link soon claimed the Master Sword, the Sword that Destroys Evil, and confronted Gannondorf himself.

Gannondorf loosed all his black magic upon Link, but Link stood strong. He fought back the dark king's evil magic and turned it against him. Gannondorf then summoned the full extent of his power, turning himself in a powerful demon. He came at Link with enough force to crush a mountain, but again he had not counted on Zelda's light magic. Link's courage and Zelda's wisdom proved too potent a combination for Gannondorf to overcome, and he was imprisoned in the Sacred Realm forever. Light was returned to the land, and peace once again reigned. It is said that if Gannondorf ever returns to conquer the land of Hyrule, a boy clad in green and possessing great courage will arise to thwart him.

But this is just legend. In centuries past, many great and powerful leaders have been compared to Gannondorf, Link, and Zelda. Some make the comparison themselves, either out of self-delusion or an attempt to intimidate opponents. Others are made by critics, conspiracy theorists, and theological fanatics. Few are taken seriously, and most only marginally fit the description. There is a saying that for every Gannondorf there is a Link and Zelda, and many historical figures can fit into this set of three, although the distinctions often have to be blurred. Depending on one's view, a good man could take the role of Gannondorf and a despicable man would be placed as Link, and those classified as Zelda fail to meet the mythological standard of her wisdom or gender. Today, claiming someone to be any of these three is akin to saying something is a sign of the apocalypse, and similarly such people are accused of fear-mongering or delusional thinking.

But still, we want to believe. Link, Zelda, and even Gannondorf are popular names given to children in hopes they will grow to be as courageous, wise and powerful as their namesakes. We still hold festivals acknowledging the legendary battle of courage and wisdom over power. The story teaches us to have hope, that even in the face of insurmountable odds one can succeed as long as they have the courage and wisdom to achieve it.

And thus, the Chalice of Destiny. Every eight years, people from far and wide compete in challenges to prove their power, wisdom, and courage. Some train the entire lives for this event. Others get lucky. But in the end, there is only one winner, one hero who will earn the Chalice of Destiny and claim the title of Hero of Heroes. Every eight years a Link is chosen, and for him there is often a Zelda and, unfortunately, a Gannondorf.

Will you be Link this year? And that pretty girl over there? Could she be your Zelda? Are you rivaled by a Gannondorf? Or will he win, and you'll be Gannondorf instead? Maybe your girlfriend will win, and you could be Zelda! Ha ha! Anything is possible when you quest for the Chalice of Destiny!

Do you have what it takes to drink from the Chalice?

There's only one way to find out…

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Here are some basic ground rules:

1. No Link, Zelda, or Gannondorf. For that matter, no characters from any of the games. This RP takes place several generations after (or maybe before) any established game, so those characters are all dead, or maybe haven't been born yet.

2. No Master Sword. It is currently sealed away, and no one knows where it is or if it even exists.

3. No ultimate evil. I'll take care of that, thank you very much.

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Lynkeru mosied into Hyrule Castle Town, her red hair and deep-olive skin drawing stares from the crowd. Like her, they had come for the Chalice of Destiny event, but unlike her they were here to watch. People from far and wide came for the event, even some Zoras and Gorons, and the occasional odd Deku. However, it had been ages since anyone has seen a Gerudo, and she stood out among the fair-skinned and blonde-haired Hylians.

The Gerudo had been twice cursed. It was bad enough when a true male Gerudo was born only once in a hundred years and named king, but as punishment for Gannondorf's actions the gods decreed that the Gerudo would never have a king again. While they were already making due by selecting boyfriends from among the Hylians, the Gerudo were very discerning when it came to which offspring were Gerudo and which weren't. Selective breeding kept the race pure, but as a result their numbers dwindled. Lynkeru herself had not seen a Gerudo outside her own family for some time. She was used to the stares.

Lynkeru wandered about the marketplace, looking at various shops and booths. This was her first time in Castle Town, let alone her first Chalice Quest, and she hade no idea where the the sign-up booth was. She considered asking one of the many gawkers eying her, but she had no interest in looking like a newbie.

The sign-ups turned out to be at the far end of the market place, the side of town facing the castle. There she found a thinly-bearded man sleeping with his head propped up by an arm on the counter. Next to him was a sign that read "Sign-In Here."

She cleared her throat and he looked up at her disinterestedly. Lynkeru was wearing green harem-girl pants, a white tube-top, a green vest and, to top it all off, a pair of goggles resting on her forehead. She also had a pair of sabres hanging at her hips.

"Hail and well met, Hero of Destiny," the man said boredly, barely bothering to sit up straight. "Hast thou come seeking the Chalice?"

"You better believe it," Lynkeru said with a smirk.

"In that case, you're going to need a sword and a shield to enter," the man told her. "Verily, thou mayest acquireth a sword and a shield at the Item Shop."

"I don't need a 'shield'," Lynkeru stated matter-of-factly.

"Verily, thou cannot quest for the Chalice of Destiny without making proper preparations," the man recited, returning to his former position. "You may not be able to defend thineself without a sword and a shield."

Lynkeru drew her sabres and swung them downward, lodging them in the counter on either side of the man. She leaned down into his face, one arm resting on the handle of a sabre, and said, "I can defend myself very well without a shield, thank you very much."

The man hadn't flinched, nor did he seem at all impressed. As Lynkeru straightened up and put away her sabres, the man reached under the counter and handed her a form. She filled it out quickly.

"Well done, Hero of Destiny," the man said as he filed the form away. "The opening ceremonies will begin in a few hours. May the Triforce be with you."

"You know, you could stand to be a little more enthusiastic," Lynkeru said.

The man threw some confetti in the air and blew into a noisemaker, then went back to sleep. Lynkeru gave him a funny look, then walked off in search of something more interesting. There was a both back there that meritted a closer look...

 

[Artiste]

((OOC: Here, G M, I told you I would join! I hope this lives up to my expectations of quality, but I won't be surprised if it doesn't, and you shouldn't be, either. BTW, I tweaked my character a bit from what we talked about. ^_^))

BIC:

Sparrow walked into the square of Hyrule Castle Town, a bit apprehensively. He had been to this town before, and thusly had a vague idea of where the shops were, but this was just too different. There were colorful banners placed over the doorways of shops, and over the gates to the gates to the houses, the final banner in Sparrow's vision resting over the drawbridge, which was lowered to let in travelers, like himself, and normal people on the whole. At dusk, it was lowered to prevent lowlifes from entering the city and damaging and/or stealing from the closed shops, though sometimes it blocked out benevolent people as well, who ventured the short way to the closest town, Kakariko, returning the next morning, hopefully.
He looked around for the sign up booth for the Chalice of Destiny competition. after a moment of searching, he saw it standing across the square, and wandered over.

Sparrow was wearing a dark cloak with a hood, not being used at the moment, which covered him completely, save for his head. The point was to cover the weapons hidden so comfortably under it. A long, slender bow for hunting, made of an unknown springy wood which had been stained white, which also had a black grip of unknown origin, not quite any grip material known to the Hylians, was hung around his waist. He had found it in a ruin while on one of his many missions given to him by his clients. He was a wandering Mercenary for hire, after all. Also hidden was a large two handed sword slung across his back which had a rounded curve in the blade at the tip, and was a dark crimson color for the hilt, with tinges of gold on the hilt's square edges and the handle's rounded bottom. The blade was an infinitely polished-looking silver, was about a foot wide, and three and a half feet long. The blade also had a hole in the back of it, which looked like the bite-mark of a very large animal. It was exactly that. Sparrow had been fighting an animal that attacked him up on Death Mountain, and he had guarded an attack from it's teeth with his sword, and it had taken quite a bite out of it. He had slain the animal, which on closer inspection was actually some sort of....thing, the likes of which he had never seen. It was indescribably ugly, but it had given him dinner for a week. It had put up quite a fight, but Sparrow did not like to think about that. He also wore a dark crimson short-sleeved shirt(Which matched his sword), with black shorts, which had silver stripes at the pockets. He wore leather sandals he had made, stained crimson with gold straps. His somewhat spiky hair was a light silver, almost as white as his bow, but had a crimson highlight on a long, spiked bang which hung over his left ear. His eyes were the exact Gold coloration of the sword's hilt. They had a sharp quality to them, in the way that showed they had a bit of wisdom hidden behind the golden irises.

As he walked up to the sign-up booth, a man with a thin beard who was sleeping woke up, and said:

"Hail and well met, Hero of Destiny," With a strong hint of boredom, and was hunched over. "Hast thou come seeking the Chalice?"

A wind had picked up a small bit, blowing his hair, and with the cloak blowing in the slight breeze as well, he looked a bit older than his sixteen years. "Yes, I have." Replied Sparrow confidently.

"In that case, you're going to need a sword and a shield to enter," the man informed him. "Verily, thou mayest acquireth a sword and a shield at the Item Shop."

"Shield? I don't have one, nor do I need it." Sparrow replied, a bit of a sneer in his voice.

"Verily, thou cannot quest for the Chalice of Destiny without making proper preparations," the man recited, as if he had said it a hundred times. "You may not be able to defend thineself without a sword and a shield."

Sparrow looked around for a moment, and drew his sword fully, showing it's impressive stature.

The man did not look impressed in the slightest. He just took out a form, handed it to the boy, who filled it out quickly, and he drawled, as Sparrow sheathed his sword; "Well done, Hero of Destiny," the man said as he put the form in with the rest. "The opening ceremonies will begin in a few hours. May the Triforce be with you."

"Thanks. You should try to get some more sleep at night, rather than when working." Sparrow said, mockingly. "See 'ya."

He wandered off the same way as before, no destination in mind, as the man went to sleep again.

((OOC: BOY, that one turned out a thousand times better than I thought it would! BTW, which Zelda game's land is in this? I was forced to be a bit vague in parts of it, from lack of knowledge of the land. Namely, the monster, which I didn't call it so for lack of the knowledge of whether or not there ARE monsters, and I have a sneaking suspicion there's another thing I was vague about. I hope I guessed correctly about the time frame this is placed in. xD Highlights seem a bit new. xD @Below post: YES, BABY! I love Ocarina of Time! It's the only one I have played extensively, save for the Wind Waker, as I don't own a Wii... -_-))

 

[Gardevoir Master]

((Despite the undefined-yet-significant time difference, I generally pictured it to be the version from Ocarina of Time. I kept it general so it wouldn't necessarily be from any particular time period.))

((It's been so long since I wrote this, I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll have to let other people join in while I make up my mind. ^_^))

 

[Snapdragon]

((OOC: May as well join the fun, then. XD I saw this around when I was still newish, but I never quite got around to joining. Good thing it's not dead, huh?))

Neither Lynkeru nor Sparrow had much trouble getting in, all things considered, but not everyone had that much luck. It didn't take too much longer for the man in charge of the signups to drift off once again. Unfortunately for him, he simply wasn't fated to enjoy a nice, long nap that day. Just when he was starting to doze off, a snappish, high-pitched voice jerked him back to alertness. "Hey! Guy! Hello?" The man blinked owlishly and looked around... funny, nobody was there. Was he just hearing things, then? The man shrugged and settled back into his seat, only to be further annoyed by another loud "Hey!!" from... somewhere. Augh. He was beginning to think that one of those forest fairies had managed to get itself lost and was trying to pester somebody into giving it directions.

"Hey, are you stupid or just deaf? I'm down here!!"

This time, the man leaned forward and peered over the edge of the booth. As it turned out, the source of his annoyance wasn't a fairy after all, but a Deku Scrub. Occasionally, Scrubs would stop by the marketplace and stock up on goods to sell in their forests or marshes or... wherever it was the ugly little things lived, but this Scrub in particular was something else. He had the long, shaggy mane of leaves that most Scrubs had, though his was a motley mixture of spring's light green and autumn's golds and crimsons. A shallow groove in his wooden face extended straight down from his hairline to the start of his snout--the Deku equivalent of a scar, probably. His tiny wooden frame was covered by a dusty white tunic, but both his stubby hands and feet were bare. He was all but dwarfed by a large tortoise shell strapped to his back--but that wasn't saying much, considering that he was dwarfed by prepubescent children.

"Eh...? Can I help you with something?"

The Deku Scrub rose up onto his tiptoes and clamped both his wooden hands onto the edge of the booth. "Yeah, I'm here to win that Chalice thingy. Sign me up for that."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

The man raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless decided to plunge into the typical spiel. "In that case, you're going to need a sword and a shield to enter. Verily, thou mayest acquireth a sword and a shield at the Item Shop."

"So I've heard." The Deku turned around to better display the turtle shell strapped to his beck. "This is my shield," he then turned around again and produced... two sticks tied together in a crude mockery of a sword. "And this right here is my sword."

It took the man a moment to keep from snickering, but to his credit, he managed to continue the typical procedure. "Verily, thou cannot quest for the Chalice of Destiny--"

"Yeah, I heard you tell the other forty-seven guys that." The Deku Scrub interrupted rudely. "Look, all that's required is that entrants be properly prepared, right? I'm not about to drop rupees on one of those beastly Hylian Shields, and I would never be able to lift your standard-issue swords. If you had any idea who I was, you'd know that I don't need to buy a sword just so I can fight."

Well, well... quite the attitude on this one. Normally, he would have refused entry to somebody who wasn't properly equipped or quite up to the standards of the other entrants, but... what the heck? The man decided to play along--if this little twerp got crushed ten seconds into the ordeal, well... he had it coming. "Oh? And just who are you?"

"Hmph. Cephalotus Thornspar Alata the Dodongo-bane, hero of the Southern Swampland." Yes, it was an impressive title; in fact, Ceph's name was probably bigger than he was.

"There aren't any swamps in Hyrule."

"There's the one you crawled out of when you were born." Ceph huffed, then whapped one wooden fist against the wall of the booth, not quite being tall enough to hit the top. "Who said I was born in Hyrule? Don't assume things! The Dodongo-bane's not somebody you wanna mess with."

"Dodongo-bane? You didn't just make that up, did you?"

"It was a title bestowed on me by the Deku royal family."

"What's the big deal about slaying Dodongos, anyway? They're not so tough."

"Buddy... I'm made of wood."

There was a slight pause, then the man passed Ceph the necessary form. It took him a moment to fill them out, but soon after he handed back the sheet, now boasting some very untidy chicken-scratch. The man didn't even glance at them as he shoved them away and rolled his eyes. "Well done, Hero of Destiny," the man deadpanned with all the enthusiasm of a Chuchu with a leak. "The opening ceremonies will begin in a few hours. May the Triforce be with you."

"Same to you, pal."

 

[Gardevoir Master]

Lynkeru found herself at a stall in the market place. The stall's owner was a portly young man with a chisel behind his ear. Spread out on the table were figurines of people and monsters often seen throughout the land of Hyrule. Hanging on a temporary wall behind the stall were pictographs, the subjects of which had been used as models for the figurines. While the owner was busy with another customer, Lynkeru picked up a figure of a Zora, one of several on the table, and examined it. It was clearly not some generic fish-man, judging from the number of poses available for it. Whereas most Zoras had blue scales set among paler blue ones, this one had a notable pattern of black and white scales. The figurines were equipped with a fishbone-shaped sword (or rather a guitar, if some of the figures were any indication) and a tortoise-shell shield. An unusual specimen, indeed.

"I hope you plan on paying for that."

Lynkeru jumped. The voice had come from behind her, and she wasn't used to people getting the jump on her. She set it down quickly and turned around.

"Excuse me?" Lynkeru said, taken aback. "Just what are you implying?"

The owner of the voice smirked. By sheer coincidence, it was the exact same Zora whose figurine Lynkeru was ogling not a second ago.

"Everyone knows the Gerudo are liars and thieves," the Zora said. He leaned towards her, his hands on his hips as if he had just uttered some clever pick-up line. He cocked his head to the side. "Although, I have to say, the rumors of Gerudo beauty do not do you justice."

Lynkeru narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't steal from petty merchants like some mere street rat. And I'm not some cross-breeding hick, either, so I suggest you stick with your own kind."

The Zora pulled himself back up to his full height, the smirk not leaving his face as he glanced at the figurine Lynkeru had just set down. "Is that so? But I see you appreciate fine art. I think that's something we have in common."

"Yeah," Lynkeru snapped. "Unlike all the other stuff we don't have in common. Like species. As an... alleged... member of the criminal element, I prefer to avoid 'sleeping with the fishes,' and I don't intend to make an exception for you."

"Hey, I'm cool with that," the Zora replied, gesturing defensively. "With an enchanting creature like you, I don't mind a platonic relationship." He put out a hand. "The name's Caurohn. I assume you've heard of me."

"Lynkeru," was the response as she knocked the hand aside. "And no, I haven't."

"A shame," Caurohn said, putting a hand on his chin. "It just so happens that I'm the three-time Chalice of Destiny champion. I plan on making this year my fourth."

"Is that so?" Lynkeru noted. "In that case, I plan on making sure you don't."

Caurohn laughed. "You certainly got guts, I can tell you that. Stick with me, and you'll be sure to get to the top."

"If you don't mind," Lynkeru said, "I'd rather get there myself."

 

[Artiste]

Sparrow's pointless wanderings finally brought him to the Item Shop that the sleepy man had mentioned. He didn't really feel like going in there, as he had been to item shops in other towns, and he didn't like being hassled into buying stuff he would never need. Which is exactly what Item Shop owners/managers do. He had everything he would need for a while stuffed into his shorts pockets, anyway. He started walking past, to continue, but paused outside the door. Well... He was running a little low on potions..... What the heck? We opened the door, and wandered on in, pausing again, this time to call out; "Hello? Anybody home?"

A muffled answer came; "Hello! I'll be right on out! Look around, and see if you want anything!" A man's voice, young. Probably in his late twenties.

"Alright. Thanks!" The wandering continued, but it had a point now. Sparrow was the best at wandering, after all.

An assortment of odd potions, which had labels stating what they did, good for any wandering mercenary. He made sure to pick up a few Red Potions, and then to his right, something shiny caught his eye. An odd little set of earrings, with little Swords on them. The label read; 'Guaranteed to increase your fighting ability by 200%!' Well... Sparrow didn't believe that was true, as he didn't believe anything could increase fighting ability except good hard training, but they looked really cool. He picked them up, surprised that there were no more behind it.

"May I help you with something?" Sparrow jumped, hand flying to the hilt of his sword, before he realized, it was just the manager.

"Um, yeah. Are there any more of these?" He replied, holding up the earrings.

"Nope. You picked out a nice piece of equipment there, kid. Those things helped me win a Chalice or two."

"I don't buy it that Earrings can increase fighting ability. It's ludicrous."

"Whatever you say. Anything I can help you with, or would you rather just look around?"

He must've had a shocked look on his face, because the man smiled. Sparrow hadn't ever met an Item Shop manager who offered to help, but gave a choice, They usually just hassled you. "Umm, yeah. Do you have any bags I could attach to a belt? My pockets aren't cutting it."

"Why, sure we do! In several styles and sizes. Follow me, please." He started walking toward a shelf Sparrow hadn't noticed before. On it were the most beautiful bags the boy had ever seen. They were embroidered with gold, and had the most astounding patterns... Dragons, Link, Zelda, and even Ganondorf adorned the bags. All different colors, too. Ugly solid colors with no life? Not these bags. They had beautiful shades of blue, red, green, white, black, and even pink, for the ladies. They had a golden bag which had crimson trim in the shape of a dragon, and was rather large, but not large enough to pose any serious problems while Sparrow was running. He could tell, just by feeling the strong thread which held them together. "I'll take this one." He said.

"Alright! I'll just hold this for you while you finish." The man replied, picking up the bag.

"Thanks," Sparrow said with the biggest smile he could muster.

A bit more looking around, and he saw the Swords and Hylian Shields, hanging on the wall. They were running a bit low, must be a lot of competitors for the Chalice this year.

"Okay... I'm done, sir." Sparrow said to the man.

"Alright, I'll ring everything up. Lessee... One hundred and fifty Rupies."

"Is that all? Wow, everything is really cheap here." Sparrow said, happily.

"Yeah, have a nice day." It was the man's turn to smile.

"You, too! Good-bye!"

"Bye."

Out the door, with a new bag hanging at his hip, and some new earrings, Sparrow resumed his pointless wandering.

 

[Snapdragon]

Well, mission accomplished. Cephalotus was free to go on his merry way until the time came to run around hitting things with stuff. Of course, first impressions were important, so he did his best to maintain a warlike swagger. Sadly enough, Deku Scrubs aren't really built for swaggering. Their choices are pretty much limited to using flowers to fly around, skipping over water, twirling, hopping like a frightened jackrabbit, or skittering madly in an attempt to match the long-legged strides of Hyrule's other races. None of these lent themselves to the "battle-hardened warrior" image very well. Thus, Ceph skittered, occasionally dodging to the side to avoid having some careless Hylian trip over him. Ugh, that was why he hated crowded places. He wasn't all that short, but apparently nobody in town bothered to look around waist height.

Ceph didn't pay much interest in the many shops and stalls lining the streets of the marketplace. For one thing, it was a small struggle just to be able to see over most counters. For another, he really didn't need anything. He only owned a single bottle, and he'd thought to fill that before his arrival in town. Bombs were far too heavy for him, and there was no point in buying a bow and arrows when Dekus were born with ranged weaponry. Armor... a laughable idea at best, and the same with weapons. Speaking of... he may as well ditch that crappy little toy sword. It wouldn't do him much good in a real fight. Ceph fished the wooden weapon out from behind the tortoise shell that acted as his shield, then tossed it carelessly to the side.

"Ow... hey, kid! Who d'you think you are?" And of course, throwing stuff in a crowded place without bothering to look is a very good way to pelt a Goron in the knee with a wooden sword. Said Goron stepped into Ceph's path with a growl. The scene made for a pretty ridiculous one--the Goron was absolutely massive in comparison to the tiny Scrub. It was like a Chuchu staring down Morpha; He barely even came to the guy's knee. The Goron tapped his foot impatiently, arms folded. "Well...? Aren't you gonna apologize for hitting me, kid?"

"First of all, I'm not a kid." Ugh, he hated that. Just because he wasn't six feet, it was okay to assume he was a child? Did these morons even know what a young Deku Scrub looked like? "The name is Cephalotus Thornspar Alata the Dodongo-bane, hero of the Southern Swampland. Second of all, I'm not apologizing for anything until you show me some respect, buddy." Ceph may have been short, but his temper was even moreso. He glared up (waaay up) at the Goron, craning his little wooden neck to meet his eyes.

The Goron just laughed. Laughed! "Aw, that's cute. Dodongo-bane? I bet you took out a baby and decided to call yourself that. We Gorons can wipe out a Dodongo with a well-aimed punch. Maybe I should start calling myself Dodongo-bane, too. Look, kid, I save my apologies for warriors and men, and you don't look like either one of those to me."

Oh, that was it. Ceph's glare didn't waver in the slightest. For a while, he just continued to look up at the Goron. Then, without warning, he spat out a Deku nut. Lucky shot--it pelted the Goron right between the eyes and exploded with a bright flash, earning sounds of irritation from the people around. The Goron reacted on instinct; he curled up into a ball and slammed his body into the ground. He did manage to miss Ceph, thankfully, but only by a hair. The impact of the landing was still enough to knock the light Deku Scrub off his feet and onto his back. Or more specifically, the tortoise shell shield strapped there. While said shield was just about big enough to cover his whole body and could withstand flame rather nicely, it had its downsides, too.

Such as?

Ever seen a tipped turtle? Yeah, kinda like that. Ceph was alive and well, but he was having a little trouble getting back on his stubby little feet. Wooden arms and legs scythed the air as he flailed wildly, all brambles and hellfire in spite of his undignified position next to the still-curled Goron. "Yeah, that's right, buddy, you curl up and hide! I don't care if you're ten feet tall or a thousand, nobody messes with the hero of Woodfall and escapes unscathed! You should be bloody thankful I'm nice enough to just stun you. If I were aiming to hurt you, there wouldn't be enough of you left to roll into a ball!"

Quite a nice little audience was watching the scene he was raising at that point. Partially because the brightness of the exploding Deku nut was a pretty effective attention-grabber, partially because it was kind of funny to watch a Deku Scrub that had fallen and could not get up scream and wiggle, and partially because it was only a matter of time before that Goron got over the shock of the Deku nut flash, and the consequences of that were bound to be even more entertaining than Ceph's current ruckus.

 

[Gardevoir Master]

"Move along, move along!" barked the royal guard as they pushed their way onto the scene. Their armor was extra shiny and extra tasselly for the event, and they brought out their good pikes. The shiniest, tasselliest, and pikiest of the guard stood between the Goron and the Deku as the other guards pushed the crowd back. "Nothing to see here!"

Caurohn maneuvered easily through the crowd, a being used to swimming upstream. Upon coming up to the guard, he flipped over him and landed directly in front of the captain.

"What seems to be the problem, Captain Smartham?" Caurohn inquired.

"Not that it's any of your business," Captain Smartham replied, shoving the Zora back into the crowd, "But as you can clearly see, there has been an altercation and both parties have incapacitated each other. My lieutenants are taking witness statements as we speak."

Caurohn looked around Captain Smartham and saw the struggling Deku and the unconscious Goron. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Lynkeru casually sneaking through the crowd to the scene of the crime.

"I thought you'd be preparing for the tournament right now, Captain," Caurohn noted. "Have you decided to take a pass on this year?"

"Crime doesn't take a day off for the festivities, Caurohn," Smartham responded. "You know very well the criminal element takes advantage of the particularly crowded environment." He turned his back to Caurohn. "There is still plenty of time for me to perform my duties before the contest begins."

Caurohn's lightning-fast hand struck into the crowd. Lynkeru was shocked to find a hand grip her wrist. With a brief yelp of protest, she suddenly found herself by Caurohn's side.

"Get your clammy hands off me!" Lynkeru demanded. "Whatever you're trying to pull, you can't prove anything and I'm not interested."

"I see you're up to your usual tricks, as well," Smartham noted.

"Captain, might I introduce to you Lynkeru of the Gerudo," Caurohn said. "Lynkeru, Captain Smartham."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Smartham replied dismissively, not turning around.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the reputation of the Gerudo," Caurohn continued. "I'm sure Lynkeru would be more than happy to act as a security consultant on behalf of the royal family."

"Uh, no?" Lynkeru replied, snapping her wrist out of Caurohn's grip. "Even if it wasn't giving away trade secrets, there's no way I'd associate myself with the... Hylians."

"And I'm sure we'll do just fine without her," Smartham added, walking away.

"You sure know how to impress a girl," Lynkeru said sarcastically to Caurohn before sliding back into the crowd. The Zora watched her leave with an amused smirk.