Deep below Kakariko... in a gloomy, damp tunnel underneath the earth... a ghostly figure was floating through the darkness.
"I know I've seen it down here..." Happosai murmured. "And I want it back! It was mine long before Cologne-chan stole it from me... and she was so beautiful back then..."
The perverted Poe sniffled a bit when he remembered the good old times. His own youth... Cologne's beauty... sneaking into the Gerudo Fortress... the underwear of the desert thieves...
He sighed. "Aaaahh, yes, those were the good old times..." Then he frowned. "But I still would never forgive them for taking my dearest treasure from me. With it, I was able to see everything... invisible treasures... hidden hideouts... attractive ghost ladies..." Again, he swooned. "How could you do this to me, Cologne?" he sobbed. "My Lens of Truth... how could you take them from me? Who knows what kind of horrible things you and the demented twins have done with it during all those years?"
Happosai continued to search around. "But I know it must be down here somewhere. That pink-dressed Poe girl - and what a cutie she was - told me she found it in here."
He also remembered how she wanted to keep it for herself, calling it pet names without even knowing what its powers were. Happosai shook his head in disbelief. "Well, good riddance that she took off after her first visit down here. I wonder what made her so afraid, though..."
He floated around another corner, his little lantern shining through the darkness. Sometimes, he saw some Keese or a Wallmaster, but as he was a creature of darkness himself now, they would never hurt him. Those monsters only preyed on the living.
He stopped to gaze at the picture of three golden triangles in the floor, in front of a huge stone face that was pouring water down into a narrow channel from its mouth.
He scratched his head. "Somehow, this symbol looks familiar..."
"There you are!" somebody shouted behind him. "See, I knew I saw him floating down here, Nabiki!"
Happosai turned around and saw those pesky little Sheikah girls standing in front of him. "Ah, it's you again! What do you want?"
"Don't play dumb, Happosai!" Nabiki huffed. "We want you to stay out of Kakariko forever! Stay in your grave or wherever you want to, but stop peeking into the women's bedrooms at night!"
"You heard her," Akane added. "You old pervert!"
"Akane-chan, is it so bad that an old man wants to be friendly to the females?" Happosai asked in an innocent voice. "What's so wrong about giving them an innocent hug?"
"You can't hug them, idiot, you have no body!" Nabiki reminded him while rolling her eyes.
Happosai sighed. "I know, I know," he groaned. "But it reminds me how it has been back when I was still alive... do you want to take that feeling away from me?"
"Yes," Akane simply replied as she whipped out the chain, a standard weapon for all Sheikahs. "Now get out of here before I have to hurt you, ghost or not!"
"Not before I have claimed what rightfully belongs to me," Happosai protested. "And you girls are a few hundred years too early before you can possibly think of defeating me!"
"We'll just see about that, creep!" Akane grumbled.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps made all three of them turn around in surprise.
"Well, well, well," the voice came out from behind the iron helmet. "So we meet again, after all these years, Sheikah scum... I am not surprised that I would find you here, though, sneaking around in the darkness like rats..."
The Tendo sisters didn't need to see the face of the heavily armored knight to recognize his voice. "Kuno..." Akane growled as she turned around to face him. Nabiki did the same. Perverted ghost or not, the dark general was clearly the bigger threat to them and Kakariko.
"The name's ONOX!" the corrupted knight thundered while stomping on the ground. "Remember that name well, Akane Tendo, because it will be the name of your executor!"
"Big talk, Kuno-baby!" Nabiki sneered. "Both you and us know that underneath all that armor, you're still the spineless little wimp."
"Silence!" Onox roared. "You will pay for this insolence, Nabiki Tendo!" While he kept his eyes on the two Sheikah sisters, his right hand reached for the handle of the weapon which was wrapped around his upper torso... a huge, metal ball adorned with spikes which was attached to a long iron chain.
"Looks like you have a lot of catching up to do..." Happosai murmured as he hid behind a pile of debris. "Go right ahead, I won't be a bother..."
"Evil Sheikah, today is the day you're gonna DIE!!" the dark general shouted as he twirled around his morning star - not an easy feat in the narrow tunnel - and threw it at his enemies.
Nimbly, the sisters dodged the deadly attack. "Too slow, Kuno!" Nabiki yelled and pelleted him with throwing darts. They all harmlessly bounced off his heavy armor, though.
"I could have told you that wouldn't work, sis..." Akane grumbled. "How did you find us anyway, Kuno? If you laid one hand on the villagers..."
"Those peasants?" Onox roared with laughter. "They hardly mean anything to me. If anything, they need protection from your kind. I simply observed you from afar as you climbed down into this old well. And now you are trapped like rats..."
"Hardly..." Akane snarled and whipped her chain around his head. Onox grumbled in annoyance and tried to remove the bothersome object from his neck. Akane pulled with all her might, but she just couldn't move the colossal fighter.
"Nabiki, come and help me!" she wheezed. Nabiki jumped over to her younger sister and pulled as well.
Happosai watched with fascination as the battle had turned into a deadly version of tug-of-war. "I really wonder if I should help them..." he murmured to himself. "They really are cute girls... and maybe they will be grateful..." He scratched his chin. "Then again, they DID want to throw me out of the village... and that guy looks pretty strong himself. Maybe I'll just wait who the victor will be. All I want are the Lens of Truth, after all..."
A sudden groan coming from the stone face behind him made him turn around his head. "Huh? Did I hear anything?"
"Whoooo is there?" a deep voice grumbled.
Happosai sweated. "I know that voice..." he murmured. If he still was alive, he would have sweated by now. "But that can't be..." He looked over to the fighting trio, but they were still too occupied and hadn't heard anything.
"Yooouuuuu..." the voice grumbled. "Happosai... you dare return after all you did to me?"
The Poe chuckled nervously. "Heheheh, fancy meeting you down here... I was really wondering what Impa did to you after I defeated you in fair combat..."
"FAIR COMBAT???" the disembodied voice shouted. "You used dirty tricks to bind me to this statue... only because of that reason was that Sheikah wench able to imprison me here, at the bottom of the well... I should destroy you where you stand!"
Fortunately, Happosai knew that was an empty threat. As long as the demon was still captured within the stone statue, he could never escape by himself. As long as the statue was intact, he would be imprisoned forever.
Still, when he remembered the beast that was the owner of that voice... after all, it was really just an accident that he beat the monster that used to threaten Hyrule. He almost died that day...
"I'm not s-scared of you," he finally said. "I'm dead anyways. And as long as you're in that stone, you can't lay a hand on me, so there!"
"NABIKI, WATCH OUT!" Akane's voice suddenly echoed through the darkness. "I can't hold him any longer!"
"Meddlesome Tendo brats!" General Onox roared. "DIE!!"
Happosai barely had time to quickly hover to the cavern's ceiling, when the dark general's massive weapon came flying out of nowhere, hitting the stone statue and smashing it into thousand little pieces.
Happosai gulped. "Oh no..."
He watched as a dark, flickering shadow swept over the floor. It crept over the walls and the ceilings, while the evil voice snickered in a demented way. "Yeeeesss..." it hissed. "FREE AT LAST!"
"What the...?" Nabiki shouted in surprise. "What the heck is going on here? What kind of creature did you sick on us, Kuno?"
"I didn't do anything, wench!" Onox snarled. "Stop your impudent accusations!" He carefully watched how the creepy shadow moved along the walls. "What sorcery is this..." he grumbled.
"Yes sorcery indeed, strong warrior!" the hidden demon laughed. "But I can see that darkness has tainted your heart as well... unlike those other mortals I see. I suppose I should feast on them first... and then, I have my revenge on Happosai... but what's this?" The strange voice seemed surprised. "I smell the delicious scent of mortal souls, right above my head... after all these years of imprisonment, this will be a feast!"
"What is this thing?" Akane yelled. She was clearly afraid, much more afraid than from Onox.
"Whatever it is, we can't let it reach the village," Nabiki shouted back. "Hurry, it's moving towards the exit..."
"Stay here and fight me, cowards!" Onox demanded. Again, he started to swing his morning star around.
Nabiki yelped when the spiked ball embedded itself into the wall next to her head. "Stop it, Kuno!" she screamed. "We've got to stop that thing, whatever it is! Do you really want it to slaughter all those helpless humans up there?"
"No doubt that beast only has arisen because you summoned it, servants of hell!" Onox shouted.
"Are you stupid or what?" Neither Akane or Nabiki had said that. It was Happosai, who finally had come out of his hiding place. "That is the Shadow Beast itself, the dreaded Bongo Bongo!"
"Bongo... who?" Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me?"
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" the old Poe yelled while waving around his lantern. "That demon is a killer and devourer of souls! Only per chance have your mother and I been able to seal it into that statue all these years ago... and now you clumsy blokehead had to wave around your little yo-yo and smash it into pieces! Now don't just stand there, you have to stop it before it reaches the surface!"
"Silence, you cur!" Onox grumbled. "Never will the king's general listen to the petty lies of an evil spirit like you!"
"Open your eyes, Kuno!" Akane yelled. "Ganondorf already has Poes in his army, can't you see you're being used?"
"It's no use, Akane!" Nabiki said as she pulled her sister's arms. "Let him stay here if he wants to be stubborn... we have to take care of a bigger problem. Onox at least doesn't want to kill all the villagers."
"You are right..." Akane nodded and followed her sister as she ran back to the entrance.
"Come back here, cowards!" Onox shouted as he ran after them.
"Fools, fools, they are all gonna die if they don't work together..." Happosai murmured. "And when Bongo is finished with the village, he'll come after me... and not even being dead will save me this time... for a demon who devours souls, I am nothing more than a light snack..."
He looked back into the tunnel and pondered. Should he go and look for his beloved Lens of Truth? What if this was his last chance?
"Aw, heck..." he groaned. "What am I doing? I need to get out of this place!" And he quickly floated after them.
"Finally..." the demonic voice whispered. "Sunlight... it has been too long since I've seen the sun..." He laughed maniacally. "And it will be the last thing my victims will ever see." The shadows continued to glide along the floor.
"Not so fast, you monster!" Akane shouted as she came leaping out of the darkness. "You're going nowhere!" She pulled a Deku Nut out of her pocket and threw it at the shadow.
The shadow stopped. "Is that some sort of joke?" the demon hissed. "You girls may be Sheikahs, but you don't even know how to banish a spirit or demon. At least Impa was a challenge to me... you would never be able to harm me!"
"Oh yeah? Well, Impa's my Mom, and she trained us, so you better watch out!"
"Oh reeeaaaalllyyyyy?" the demon snickered evilly. "Is that true, you are her daughters? Well, in that case, maybe I should take you as a starter before I go up to the other mortals... revenge is a dish best served cold, indeed..." And the shadow turned around and headed into their direction.
"Smooth move, Akane," Nabiki frowned. "You just had to blab that out, right?"
"Well excuuuuse me, Nabiki!" Akane grumbled. "And what now? I don't suppose Mom has ever taught you anything about sealing a demon, did she?"
Nabiki shook her head. "Nope! And up to now, it never had really been necessary..."
They backed off while the demonic shadow drew closer and closer...
"Fresh sooouuuullssss..." the demon whispered.
Nabiki gulped. "Well, this is it... it was nice knowing you, sis..."
"TRAITORS OF THE CROWN!" a booming voice shouted from behind them. "This will be your end!"
Onox' attack missed the two girls again, but instead, the heavy metal ball smashed against the ceiling directly above their heads. Boulders and pebbles started to rain down on them.
"Kuno, you idiot!" Akane yelled. "You wanna bury us alive?"
"No..." Bongo Bongo whispered when he realized that the ceiling near the exit was starting to collapse as well. "NO!! You won't imprison me again!"
Happosai zipped past the shocked girls and shouted: "What are you waiting for? Hurry and get out of here! The earth itself will imprison him if we make haste!" And he flew past them, towards the entrance. Sunlight was a bother to all Poes, but he gladly preferred it to anything that awaited him down here.
Onox groaned when a big stone came crashing down on his helmet, stunning him for a moment. With a groan, he shook his head, realizing that this really hadn't been the best move..."
"Come on, Akane, let's get moving!" Nabiki shouted. Together, the two Sheikahs ran towards the shaft of the well.
"NOOOOOOO!!" came the angry voice of the demon as two tendrils of dark energy came shooting out of the creeping shadows. "I will have my revenge!"
"Nabiki!" Akane yelped when the two tendrils wrapped themselves around her arm and leg. "It got me!"
"Hang on!" Nabiki shouted as she grabbed her sister's free arm. She pulled with all her might. "Damn, if only Ryoga were here right now..." she winced. "I could use a guy with his strength..."
"You don't need anyone, you're strong enough!" Akane told her sister. "I know you can do it... we can do it together! We are Sheikahs!"
Nabiki looked at her sister's determined face and finally nodded with a smile. They looked back at the dark beast that was still trying to pull them back into the tunnel, where they would be buried alive. A single, gleaming red eye appeared in the shadows. "There will be no escape..." the demon hissed.
"You ready?" Akane asked her sister. Nabiki nodded. Together, they counted: "One... two... THREE!"
And together, they managed to pull Akane free from the demon's grasp. Without hesitation, they turned around and ran.
"NO!!" Bongo Bongo roared while the rubble continued to rain down on him. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Akane pulled her sister over the edge of the well, just as a huge cloud of dust came out of the deep shaft. Coughing, they carefully looked back down. When the dust was settling down, they could clearly see that the tunnel was blocked with rubble. Only Din herself would probably be able to uncover the secret tunnels underneath Kakariko village.
Happosai came floating down next to them. Landing on the well's edge, he looked down with satisfaction. "There! Not even the most powerful demons can free themselves when being trapped by the earth itself. May Din's force seal him in there for all eternity."
Nabiki frowned when she saw the old ghost. "You know, we still have to throw you out of the village..."
Happosai shrugged. "Whatever... I guess I'll go back to my grave for now... For today, I'm glad that I am still alive. Um... you know what I mean. See ya girls later!" And he floated away, towards the graveyard.
"Shouldn't we go after him?" Akane wondered.
"Leave him be for now," Nabiki said. "We can always take care of him later." Together, they looked down into the well again.
"You think... Onox is still down there?" Akane asked.
"Who knows?" Nabiki shrugged. "Being Ganondorf's servant, he might have his ways to escape. But maybe we're lucky enough and we're rid of him for good..."
"Sounds too good to be true..." Akane sighed.
The huge, armored general sat in the darkness, barely able to move an inch while sitting within the collapsed rubble from the ceiling.
"My master most certainly would be willing to take you into his services," he said in a calm voice. "Pledge loyalty to him, and not only will you be freed from this prison, but we will also help you take your revenge."
The evil, red eye was glowing in the darkness. "Very well..." the hissing voice replied. "We have a deal..."
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(Posted Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:33)
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