Link nodded in appreciation when seeing the princess' new outfit. Instead of her elegant dress, she was now wearing a sturdy leather outfit with royal ornaments stitched on its surfaces. It almost looked like a feminine leather version of Link's tunic, only that it was colored a deep purple. The white pants nicely emphasized her figure, and instead of her crown, she was wearing a simple headband. She had a bow strapped to her back and her thin rapier on her side. She looked more like a regal huntress than a princess.
"I hope this doesn't make me look fat..." Asuka mumbled.
Link had enough experience with Ilia and Midna to be careful when a female was saying such stuff.
"It looks really nice on you," he smiled. "Unusual for you, but nice."
"Thanks! When I asked Dina to give me suitable clothes for riding and fighting, she wanted to give me some weird, ninja-like outfit with many ribbons I was supposed to tie around my head... I didn't like it, so she gave me this hunting outfit instead."
"So I take it you can ride?" Link asked. "I mean, you have been sitting behind me when we were fighting Ganondorf, but I had to focus on the battle... I couldn't have given you riding lessons back then, after all..."
"That's okay, I guess I can get by," Asuka gulped. She had dreaded this moment. She had no idea if the true Princess Zelda was a great rider or not, and she certainly didn't want to go on foot. Still, maybe Link would have to teach her how to ride first... while a skilled Evangelion pilot, Asuka had never sat on a horse before.
Together, they walked down into the courtyard, where Link raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Seconds later, a brown horse came running.
"You already know Epona," Link said as he petted the mare's neck affectionately. "So I think you'll get along with each other just fine... or do you prefer to take a horse from your own stables?"
"Um, that's okay, Epona's just fine..." Asuka said. 'If he's the one to take her reigns, I won't have to do much besides holding on to him during the ride,' she hopefully thought.
Link helped her sit up on Epona's saddle and Asuka realized that it was more comfortable than she had thought it would be. Feeling much more relaxed, she let out a sigh of contentment.
Link took Epona's reigns and lead her out of the castle on foot, and for the first time during her visit on Hyrule, Asuka left the castle.
Hyrule Town was a bustling metropolis, and anywhere they came by, the people stopped what they were doing and lowered their heads or even bowed. Asuka smiled. Now this was what being a princess was all about... being loved by your subjects and having them look up at you. If only she would get that feeling a bit more back at home...
While they approached the West gate, Link said: "I've heard that the Bulblins have collected several, shiny things in her camp in the Eldin region... I bet that at least one of these things is a mirror shard. Wanna check it out?"
Asuka had no idea who these 'Bulblins' were, but if Link was with her, there wasn't much that could happen to her, right? So she nodded and said: "Sure, why not?"
"Well, the Bulblins have gotten pretty restless since I defeated their leader, and unlike him, they don't really want to forgive me that I beat him a total of four times. So it'll probably get pretty rough when they realize that we're coming."
"I'm not scared," Asuka smiled. "Not when I have a strong man at my side to protect me."
Link blushed. "Um, well, I'll try to do my best... but you're a pretty good fencer too, aren't you?"
'Well, I fought Angels before, that DOES kinda count...' Asuka thought. "It's been some time, but I think I can handle them," she said.
"Great!" Link smiled. "I know that you're at least a masterful archer, I've seen how you shot those light arrows at Ganondorf."
'Again with that Ganondorf fella,' Asuka thought grimly. 'I really wonder who that guy is and what he did to tick off Zelda... hopefully I won't ever meet him in person.'
"So, why don't you sit on so that we can finally get going?" she asked.
Link grinned. "Oh, I figured that if you are such a good rider, I'll leave Epona to you. She's a good girl, she won't give you any trouble."
"W-w-what?" Asuka stammered. She did not expect that. "But... but what about you?"
"Oh, I don't need to ride," Link said as he pulled a dark, weird-looking rock out of his bag. "Remember the little souvenir Midna left behind when she went home? It'll be easy to keep up with Epona when I'm on four paws."
And Asuka watched in astonishment when Link put the glowing rock to his forehead. Then, he seemed to turn into a cluster of shadows as he fell down to all fours. When she could see him clearly again, he had turned into the same big wolf she had seen in her bedroom.
Link growled at her, but somehow those growls turned into words in her mind. 'Let's go!' he said. 'And you better hold on, Epona's pretty fast!'
Link barked to the brown mare, and Epona responded with a sharp whinny. Asuka gasped when all of the sudden, the two animals took off at a great speed. But to her surprise, she had no trouble at all staying in the saddle. It was like she already knew what she had to do, and how she could make the horse swerve to the right or the left.
'Maybe Princess Zelda really is a capable rider... and I simply took over her abilities. Well, then I guess I won't have any problems handling that sword or the bow, either.'
And then she enjoyed the fast ride across the plains of Hyrule, all the while they approached the looming mountains at the horizon.
The sun was high above them when they reached a small group of boulders near the high cliffs of Death Mountain. Among these boulders, a small group of nomads had put up camp. Asuka could see several dark shapes sitting and standing around a small campfire. Two huge boars with saddles were standing behind one of the tents.
'Let's approach them from the North, so they won't detect as too soon. That's where the most boulders are.'
When they were close enough, Asuka dismounted and left Epona behind an especially big boulder. She then took an arrow out of her quiver and peeked over the rock they were hiding behind. Link looked over to the camping monsters as well.
Asuka shuddered when she got the first clear view of the Bulblins. They were a goblin-like, green-skinned tribe with garments made of leather and cloth. They were wielding clubs and shot swords, and a few were carrying bows and quivers.
"What's the plan?" she whispered.
Link sniffed a few times. 'See that big tent over there?' he asked her. 'I bet that's where they keep most of their loot. You'll cover me while I'm gonna run in to them before they can use their own bows and engage them in close combat.'
"But they've got weapons and you are unarmed as a wolf," Asuka protested. "Isn't that too dangerous?"
Link snorted a few times. Asuka assumed that this was the canine equivalent of a laugh. 'You haven't seen me fight in this form before, haven't you? Well, you'll be in for a surprise... just try to hit as many of them as you can and leave the rest to me.'
"All right," Asuka agreed. "But I hope you know what you're doing." She put an arrow on her bowstring.
'On the count of three...' Link growled.
"Okay," Asuka nodded and took aim. "One..."
'THREE!' Link barked and ran towards the Bulblins. As soon as they saw the approaching wolf, they let out cries of alarm and raised their weapons.
Asuka sighed as she fired her first arrow at one of the Bulblin archers. "Boys..." she grumbled to herself. "No matter which dimension, no matter which species, they're still the same..."
Just a short while later, the battle was over. Link and Asuka were standing in the middle of a camp that was littered with the motionless bodies of the Bulblins.
Asuka had feared that she would feel bad about having to kill an intelligent being, but since the green-skinned marauders weren't looking much human-like, it was frighteningly easy to shoot them down or strike them with a blade. As she had suspected, handling both of her weapons wasn't any harder than riding a horse was.
Link turned back into his Hylian form and looked around. "Looks like we got all of them," he smirked. "Now let's take a look at what they have looted..."
Together, they walked to the big tent and looked through the many baskets, crates and treasure chests inside.
The first thing Link had found was a barrel full with silverware and golden cups, most probably the booty from one of their assaults on Hyrule Town.
"This isn't what we've been looking for," he murmured. "Zelda, did you have more luck?"
Asuka opened a chest and her eyes widened. "WOW!" she said and took out the huge, sparkling gemstone that was inside. "Looks like I hit the jackpot! Who knew those bandits were carrying such riches with them?"
Link looked at her with a frown on her face. "Uh, Zelda? That's just a blue rupee... that's just five green rupees! You're calling that riches?"
"Huh? But don't you see the size of that thing? I doubt there's a gem of that size anyplace around here..."
She stopped in mid-sentence when Link opened a few other chests and poured their contents out onto the ground: A sizeable amount of green, blue, red and yellow gemstones.
Asuka's eyes widened. Link raised an eyebrow an smirked. "You were saying? But I admit, that was a pretty good one! Heh, imagine that... if there's one thing Hyrule will never have a shortage of, it's rupee ore." He looked down at the rupees in front of them. "But I admit, that's not too shabby after all. Maybe I can use this to buy that fancy armor I saw at the Malo Mart in town... then again, it's nothing against the riches in your own castle, I suppose."
Asuka swooned. "N-nothing... against my own riches?" she muttered. What kind of country was that, where gemstones were practically growing on trees?
Link put a few of the red rupees into his purse, then he continued to search the rest of the tent. He smiled when he looked into a small, unsuspicious-looking crate. "Bingo!" he said. "Would you look at that? Three shards of the Twilight Mirror! Lucky thing those Bulblins did most of the work for us, eh? But I really wonder if they actually collected them for some reason... or if that's all just one big coincidence."
Asuka picked up one of the mirror shards. They looked like the one Link had sown to her back at the castle, and they were as smooth. "And these things can open the portal to Midna's homeworld?" she asked.
"Why do you ask, Zelda?" Link wondered. "You were there when she said goodbye and shattered the mirror. But still, this is great... I can't wait to see her again!"
"No problem at all, big boy!" a saucy voice spoke out of nowhere. "If that's all you want..."
"Midna?" Link shouted in surprise. "What... where are you?"
"Back in the Twilight Realm, of course, you dummy!" came the amused voice of the Twilight Princess. "Just look into the mirror shard!"
Link looked into the shard Asuka was holding, and indeed, the grey-skinned, but beautiful face of Midna was looking back at him.
She winked. "Long time no see, huh?"
"Midna!" Link smiled. "Man, how I missed you... how have you been?"
"Well, it's much better around here, now that Zant's gone... but I must say, I've gotten so used to you around me that I'm a bit bored... you've somehow become my hobby, you see? Eee hee hee..."
'So, that's Midna?' Asuka wondered. 'She looks strange... but not in a bad way.'
"Hey, princess of the light! Have you just come to gape? Or are yo glad to see me too?"
It took Asuka a while to realize that Midna was talking to her. "Um, of course I am... good to see you."
"Gee, don't jump all over me," Midna replied sarcastically. "Anyways, I'm relieved that I actually managed to contact you two. Only one shard of the mirror isn't enough to open a channel between the worlds."
"But didn't you destroy the mirror because you wanted your people to be safe in your world?" Link frowned.
"Well, yeah, but that was before I realized how boring being the princess of the Twili can be. And besides, that's not the only reason I'm calling... I was getting pretty nervous that you wouldn't try to find any other shards. It's not like I can send you a letter from the Twilight Realm."
'The girl should try and get DSL,' Asuka thought with a smirk.
Midna tilted her head. "Do you think I'm so funny, or can I continue with my story, Zelda?"
"Oh, I'm sorry... please, go on!"
"All right..." Midna sighed. "Link, Zelda, I... I need your help."
"What's going on?" Link wondered. He rarely heard the Twilight Princess talk in such a serious tone of voice. "We'll do anything we can, you know that."
"Yeah, that's why I tried to contact you in the first place... You see, the Twilight Realm... is under attack!"
"What?" Link gasped. "How can that be? I always thought the Twilight Mirror was the only entrance. Is it one of your own people again?"
Midna shook her head. "No, they aren't Twili. They walk on two legs, but... that's where our similarities end. They... almost look like lizards, or two-legged bugs. They talk in a weird language of growls and hisses and... and they've got magical weapons. A few of them have blades attached to their arms, but others shoot lights of death, while others throw unusually small bombs. And some of them... have come in some sort of carriage that can FLY."
Asuka and Link exchanged a confused look. "What kind of creatures can they be?" Asuka wondered.
"I don't know it either," Midna sighed. "But I saw one of their leaders... and while I couldn't see his face, he was the only one who could talk normally. And when he talked to the lizard-insect-creatures, he called them 'Space Pirates'."
Asuka blinked. Space Pirates?
"I've never heard of them before," Link said. "But I despise any sorts of pirates, especially those that attack my friends with no reason. Did they already attack your palace?"
"No, but they robbed several villages, killed countless Twili and enslaved the ones that survived. And they are constructing huge buildings all around the palace. I have the feeling that they are going to attack soon... so please, if you would hurry..."
"We're on it, Midna!" Link nodded. "We already have four shards of the mirror, we only need two more to complete it. And once it is complete, we will come to your aid."
"And the Hyrulean army will help you as well," Asuka assured her. She may not be a princess for a very long time, but she would never leave someone to his doom just because she didn't know him very well. She had been a protector of humans back when she piloted an Eva... she would do the same as a princess.
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(Posted Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:13)
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