Ikanat See Without This Light [Eevachu + Cloud]

Dungeon: Ancient Castle of Ikana - Majora's Mask

Players/Characters:

• Eevachu - 50 Rupee Total
  • Rika and Wollo - Gibdo Mask + 30 Rupees
• Clooby - 50 Rupee Total
  • Julius Surgate - Hawkeye + Hands Free augment, 3x Force Gems (-18r), 3x Light Gems (-30r), Splinter Crystal (-22r because Julius has Nose for Treasure), 30 rupees(50 Profession, 20 Craft)

The Kokiri shifted past various monstrous figures- Gibdo, Stalfos, Poe, Moblin, you name it-, his eyes scanning the space between each creature as he passed. Though his rabid searching may have been met with shock by some of the denizens he passed by, Rika cared little for their reactions as he was focused on one thing. Since arriving at Monster Village a few hours ago, he had met a Gibdo. In exchange for fulfilling his request, the Gibdo promised Rika he would divulge the secrets of Monster Village and why all bestial creatures who enter become tame and docile. It was a mystery of great interest to the Kokiri- in fact, it was the reason he was there in the first place-, so he was eager to accept the Gibdo's mission, even if he had little faith that the undead creature actually knew anything. However, Rika was starting to regret that decision. As the Gibdo had explained, supposedly he was a sentry for the Ikanan forces and for the great Stone Towers, along with his dog, Bones. Bones vanished into Monster Village earlier that day, and hadn't come back yet, so Rika's mission was to go find him.

It seemed like child's play to Rika- a Kokiri finding an animal and getting it to come back? Simple. What he soon found out was that Bones was not a dog, but instead a Stalhound. And he ran from Rika every time he caught a glimpse of the Kokiri. Rika had already encountered the Stalhound twice, and it darted away upon sniffing Rika's scent and seeing his red attire; if that didn't make him stand out enough, him being a Kokiri made it even worse. So, unfortunately for the Kokiri, he had spent the last few hours searching for this mutt. It wasn't even about the information anymore; Rika was angry at Bones and had to catch that dog for taunting him by being so skittish.

As for Wollo, the Octorok was initially petrified of Monster Village; though he would be eaten wherever he went, the population making up this locale was far more terrifying than your average Hylian village. There were other Octoroks he caught glimpses of too, what if they ganged up on him? The thought sent shivers down Wollo's nonexistent spine, but he knew he would be okay, Rika had beaten up plenty of monsters that looked just like these, so he could do the same here! But. . . Rika was so distracted looking for the dog, what if Wollo got snatched away while he wasn't paying attention? Then he would surely be done for. They didn't seem to attack like the monsters Wollo saw normally did, though. . . Perhaps they had heard of how Rika beat up the other monsters, and were cowering? That must be it, that's what Wollo would do if Rika wasn't his friend!

Julius kneeled along the mountain steppe, using a brass eyepiece to scout the are for any sign of Ganon's forces. HE had been sent, practically alone, with very broad orders-- to detect an entrance along the southern coast from which to launch a better invasion. Or reclamation, depending on how you wanted to call it.

The entire area he had entered was strange... almost alien, even. Death filled the air, making his neck stand on edge; his finer senses tingled and tried to drive him to always being moving, always watching his back... This place, it seemed, simply was not safe.

A lens flicked over the eyepiece, increasing the magnification. There was... A boy, it seemed, running around some... If he had to guess, from his vantage point, likely two to three kilometers out from his current location. There was a valley of undead out there, but... For whatever reason, the boy seemed to be completely fine with interacting with them. It was strange-- and also served to convince Julius that it wasn't really a 'boy' as he had thought. He pulled out his familiar Lens of Truth, and laid eyes upon the boy once again.

No... there was nothing exactly unusual about the child; he looked young, but in Hyrule, he knew looks could be deceiving. He also had... what looked like an octorok tagging along with him. What kind of absolute nonsense was this? It was, simply put, preposterous to think of this situation, but here he was, witnessing it. Perhaps the boy was a Kokiri... that was one, and the only probable conclusion he could come to.

Julius began his climb down the mountain, carefully retracing his steps as he struggled for grip on the loose soil, sand, and rocks.

...

He scouted his position again-- the boy was closer, this time. What had been... three and a half kilometers, he realized now, was now closer to a half a kilometer. He didn't even need his Hawkeye to see him from here. But, he had to maintain his cautiousness-- there was no guarantee, after all, that this boy wasn't an agent for malevolent forces... Even if he had already been around for about three days.

He approached slowly, knowing that the boy would already have seen him. He didn't necessarily care, either-- he was nearly two meters tall, and about as wide around as a Goron. He was sure that his image overall -- his stature and his armor -- would scare the boy off if he was simply a boy. Julius would let the child draw closer to him, and closer still, until he could more carefully examine his movements to see if he were about to cast a spell... or otherwise seeming intent on causing him harm. He brandished his shield in front of him, while his right arm fell to his side.

He would let the child come to him, if he had noticed Julius already.

Rika's eye caught sight of something interesting; despite all his searching, it was something he hadn't expected to actually come across. It was amazing, he was almost brought to tears by its glory; it was Bones! "There you are, you bastard dog! Get back here, Bones!" Rika cursed at the dog, rushing towards it as quickly as it began darting off. Pushing off the ground, Rika ran around and leaped over creatures, objects, and structures alike, desperate to grab the cowardly dog fleeing from him. His chase was short lived, however, as the dog darted down and through a narrow hole in a stone wall, causing Rika to slam into the wall and fall to the ground. "Damn it, he got away again!" The Kokiri shouted, frustrated, aggressively ruffling his hair with his hands.

"Hehehe, chasin' old Bones, are you kid?" Rika heard a raspy voice call out. Turning to face the source of the noise, Rika saw a Stalfos sitting in a chair, its bones rattling as it let out a hoarse laugh. "I guess lil' Bruce gave up. . ." The Stalfos spoke, laughing once more. ". . . Someone else was chasing this dog?" Rika inquired as he brought himself to his feet and straightened his hat. "Yep. Lil' Bruce the Poe. Sweet kid." The Stalfos spoke fondly, before letting out another fit of laughter. Rika seemed to ponder his words for a moment, before responding, "Uh. . . Exactly how does a Poe catch a dog?" At this, the Stalfos let out another uproar of laughter, before saying in between his rattling, "That's just it, kid, they don't! He never has!" Rika frowned at the Stalfos, before exploding back at him, "I don't care what this Bruce has done, I'm gonna catch that dog and drag his ass back!" Rika stormed off as he shouted, before realizing he had reached the edge of town. Stopping, Rika paused to think for a moment. "Knowing that dog, he's already on the other side of town by now. . . " He pondered, considering what his next course of action would be. It would not be very effective for him to simply run around town all day hoping to find the dog- though it had proved effective in locating Bones, it was clearly not helping him capture him. He was just wasting his time and energy, and while the time was not an issue to either of them, the undead mutt had a limitless supply of energy, which was something that could not be said about Rika.

Wollo struggled to keep up with Rika's frantic running, but luckily for the Octorok Rika managed to crash into a wall, allowing him ample time to meet back up with the Kokiri. Why couldn't this happen more often? Rika was always moving too fast for Wollo's tiny legs, especially when he decided to run. He decided to do that very often.

Well, that was something, at least. Whatever the child, or Kokiri, or whatever he was was doing, he wasn't seeming to have much success.

He watched the Stalhound continue to dart around the village, leading the child on a wild goose-chase that he wouldn't have any success on if he continued to just bound after the skeletal mutt.

He considered his options carefully for a moment. He still needed to scout the are to determine whether or not it was somewhere that they could use for a landing... Already, though, its chances were unlikely. It was too rocky and mountainous for any ships to make good landfall on. Even if their rather large fleet managed to avoid the craggy coasts, he was sure that if they needed to return to their ships, they would be nearly unusable.

There were other things that needed investigating too, however. For instance, along his way here, he had spied an incredibly fortified castle-- likely some ancient holdover from a bygone age, he idly wondered. Still, though, given the presence of all the Undead he had lain eyes upon... That age probably wasn't nearly as by-gone as he would have otherwise thought.

While Julius continued to ponder the 'ifs', 'ands', and 'buts' of his current situation and location, the Stalhound very curiously approached him. It wasn't sure of who this peculiar person was, and he didn't have a definite scent about him, either. He smelled just like the shrublands that skirted the entire valley, in fact! But he was very big and imposing, but by no means as large as Keeta was, he knew. Even the dog, in its unthinking stupidity, knew that very few things could measure up to Keeta.

He approached the armored man, watching his movements carefully. It let loose a low bark, before drawing a bit closer, then a little further, and a little further... Until it saw the man move. It had moved its hand, to... something on its hip? Oh, that-- The dog froze in place for a second. It recognized it, very vaguely, as something similar to what Keeta held whenever he woke up. Maybe this man was like Keeta? It inched closer, desiring to become acquainted with the man.

Just as Rika was considering taking a break from his wild goose chase to rest and figure out a better plan for hunting down Bones, he caught sight of the dog out of the corner of his eye. It was running. . . away from town? It was a wide area, but it was relatively flat and open, it would be easy to see him at all times and there wouldn't be much terrain in Rika's way. It seemed like a strange choice. At least, that was what Rika thought, until he saw a strange figure in the distance, in the direction Bones was heading. Was there something about this whatever-it-was attracting Bones? There must have been, it certainly caused a reaction from Bones. Maybe it was just a curious dog. . . a curious coward? That didn't add up. Either way, if Bones was being drawn in by this whatever-it-was, perhaps Rika could use that to his advantage to sneak up on the dog and grab him. Without another moment wasted, Rika trailed after him.

As he began to near the creature, he noticed that it was completely clad in armor. Was it a Darknut? It was true, due to where they were, that would not be an impossible sight to see, but they were still quite uncommon. Bones seemed to cautiously approach the figure, as if it wasn't sure who- or what- exactly he was. As Rika got closer, he noticed; engraved on the figure's armor were markings indicative of a Hylian, and on his chest, on the Zora Mail he was wearing, were markings of the Zora. Coupled with this, the figure began to reach to his hip, as if to draw something. As the sliding sound of the blade pulling itself out of its sheath rang out, Rika's voice boomed out towards the two. "Wait!"

As his voice brushed across the Stalhound's ears, its head perked up, instantly recognizing the voice of the one who had been chasing him for the last few hours. Immediately, the Stalhound was off, as Bones shot off down the plains. "Damn it. . ." The Kokiri muttered as his eye glanced over towards the fleeing dog. It was only a matter of time before Rika couldn't even see it anymore. That was a great opportunity to catch it, but it was better that it ran and lived than get captured and slaughtered. Moving his attention back to the imposing figure in front of him, Rika was certain it was not a Darknut; no Darknut would react that way toward a curious Stalhound, especially with the magical effects on this land limiting them. With the Zora Mail he was wearing, he certainly wouldn't be a Zora, which left only one logical guess for Rika to choose. Throwing out a question, Rika asked the figure, ". . . So what's a Hylian doing all the way down here?"

"Pretty bold question for a Kokiri," he said, sheathing whatever he had drawn of his blade. "And also one I'm unable to answer. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. The broadest answer I can give is that I'm... exploring. Scouting, sort of. But what about you? There's not much reason for a Kokiri, of all the possible beings, to be alone somewhere surrounded by undead." Even if they did seem rather passive, he guessed that it would take more than that to quell whatever evils were, inevitably, lurking around the badlands.

"So, the village... I noticed you chasing that hound all through it. My guess is that it's trained to do that, so you'd be better off just not bothering. Anyways-- the village. I've noticed you not getting attacked by any of the undead, which makes me think that they're not the mindless ones you always see in tombs and ruins. But what makes them any different from the Stalfos that you always see in, say, the Lost Woods in Northern Hyrule? I don't have the aptitude for magics to know that well enough, so I guess wanting to study that is... not necessarily useless, but rather difficult."

He cast his eyes around the horizon, before eventually laying them in the direction he had seen the castle. "Moreover, there's a castle nearby. Extremely well-fortified... Do you know anything about it?" Above all else, that piqued his interest the most. Before he left this great wasteland, he was going ensure that he explored that place... And, presumably, whatever lay beyond it.

"Exploring? You're at the correct place, then." Rika commented, chuckling slightly at the absurdity of the statement. However, his expression turned sour at the mention of the dog. "I don't care." He spat out. Did this guy think Rika was an idiot? Of course he knew that. There was no way a dog would act like this out of fear, especially considering it was undead. This wasn't a matter of fulfilling a request anymore, this was a challenge of pride; yes, a challenge, that was exactly what it was. The Gibdo who requested this was challenging the Kokiri, so he had to succeed regardless of the reasoning behind the request. As the man continued talking, Rika's expression turned to frustration. This guy sure was certainly asking a lot of questions, though it at least proved he wasn't a bonehead like Rika would have initially expected. Though, Rika's frustration was less at the number of questions and more at his inability to provide a proper answer. ". . . I don't know." He slowly said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "Though they have their eccentricities, it doesn't feel particularly different from interacting with someone in Castle Town- aside from the caveat of everyone being a monster. For the most part, they are all intelligent and peaceful. They have shops, an economy, and are fairly akin to a Northern society from what I can tell, though I don't know -why- they are this way. See, I am here for a similar reason to you, to discover more about this place, and I -do- have an aptitude for magic, a very prominent one, in fact." Rika smugly admitted, though he paused as he moved to the second question.

"Yet, no one here is able to provide me with the information I need. Which brings me to your second question, that castle. From what I can gather, that is the location of their king, Igos Du Ikana. I have heard that if anyone would know, it is him. Yet, it is impenetrable from what I can gather; their security is likely better than that of Hyrule Castle. That is why I was chasing the dog; I was promised entrance inside if I caught it, and while I doubted it would be that easy, it was the only way in I was able to find so far." The Kokiri paused for a moment, glancing in the direction of the castle. "Plus, who knows what sort of things are in a castle ruled by a Stalfos king. It's so exciting!" He exclaimed, turning back to face Julius. "Anyway, I'm sick of explaining, and that is all I have gathered so far anyway. If you are going to enter the village, however, I recommend not threatening anyone like you did with the Stalhound. I'm gonna go asking around again since I have lost track of that dog." Rika finished as he turned toward the direction of the village and began to walk away, though he'd likely stop should the Hylian speak to him again.

"...Right." However he wanted to rationalize it to himself-- he didn't particularly care about a bruised ego.

"Well, no matter how well-defended it is, there's a way in." He said this more to himself, knowing full well that even if Hyrule Castle had its vulnerabilities and weak points, they weren't really vulnerabilities. They had a solid grasp on whatever weaknesses there were, but an even tighter grasp on monitoring them.

It helped that they had an entire sub-race trained in stealth and subterfuge from birth to aid in that regard.

He began walking into the town behind the Kokiri. He started looking at everything around the town: houses, trails, dust, and grass scrub. He noticed a particular trail leading to a rather prominent overlook. He zoomed in with his Hawkeye, finding a particularly... gigantic skeleton resting there. It stood easily at least twice as tall as Julius himself was. And, given the nature of this place, it was probably alive as well.

Julius began heading up the slope, noticing that the way up was less than... likely a sixth of the entire trail. He guessed it most likely wrapped around, based on how it continued up and over the mountain they occupied.

Soon, he reached the crest of the hill, and looked upon the skeleton. The first words in his mind were giant stalchild, and his observation wouldn't be too far off the mark, either. It had more characteristics that resembled the child-like skeletons than it did with the more common Stalfos-- it lacked any real armaments that he could see, any real armor-- unless it was stashed somewhere nearby.

And, as he approached, it would stir to life.

"You summon Captain Keeta?" Its deep, bellowing voice rang over the cliff face the enormous skeleton faced. Julius stood resolute, blade sheathed, shield still in hand.

"I am Captain Julius Surgate, of the Hyrule Guard and its associated forces," he responded, snapping to a salute in front of Keeta. "I desire entry into the castle -- and, whether you allow it or not, I will find a way in."

Keeta returned his salute. "Unfortunately, Captain," he returned to his resting position, "I cannot honour that request. First," he paused for a second, emerging from the rock that surrounded him, "I must test your ability as a swordsman and leader. This will be accomplished by..." The skeletal captain stopped for a second, turning to where the trail Julius had followed continued. "Halting me before I complete the route upon this course, and return to this location. If you can accomplish this, then I will tell you how to enter the castle... For whatever reason you may have."

Julius nodded in acceptance, drawing his blade.

"Ready? Begin!"

The captain started down the track... much slower than Julius expected. Was this some kind of joke?

Making his way back to town, Rika noticed the man he had discussed with trailing a few paces behind him back to the village. He was going there too, huh? Well, that wasn't of particularly concern to Rika, but it would be a little annoying if he just followed behind Rika; the Kokiri did not know if he would stir up any trouble as of yet, and wasn't interested in getting wrapped up in his trouble, as he was more than capable of making his own conflict. Still, the two of them seemed to share a common goal, and so perhaps he would learn something that could be useful to Rika's overall goal of getting to meet Igos Du Ikana here. As Rika pondered what to do next and his options, he failed to notice the Hylian trail off from him.

However, what he did notice was the towering Stalfos a short distance away on the hilltop. That was something of alarming interest to Rika, as rarely did the skeletal monsters get that large. Making his way towards it, Rika saw the man he had talked to, sword at the ready, the titanic Stalfos slowly stomping forward. Somehow, Rika just knew that this guy had something to do with it. With a sigh and a dismissive shake of his head, Rika complained aloud to himself, "Didn't I say not to attack anything. . .?"

The icy steel of Julius' blade shined for a moment, enveloping itself in a freezing blue aura. The jagged ice of his sword struck the ground in front of Captain Keeta, almost immediately glazing it with an icy layer. He repeated this a few more times, having lain plenty of ice on the ground for the good Captain.

If there was one way to stop the titanic Stal... child? Stalfos? Julius wasn't aware of how you'd classify something like Keeta -- but he knew that, if there were one way he wanted to see the Captain go down, it was by slipping on slick earth. No one would be expecting this.

Julius thought for a second. Was there anything he could use to trip the giant with? There was... His hookshot, but that might not work. For a better plan, he usually (most times) carried a coil of rope in his Adventure Pouch... But what would he do with that? He looked around himself, before lying eyes on the Kokiri mage.

"Take the end of the rope!" He tossed an end of the coil to the mage, instructing him to get into position along the other edge of the trail. In hushed tones, he explained the general circumstances and plan to Rika-- that if he were able to prevent Keeta from getting to the same spot he arose from before a certain time limit were elapsed, that he would tell them of a way to get into the castle-- and his plan to keep Keeta from arriving.

"It sounds ridiculous, and it is. But you've got to trust me on this one. Now, are you ready?

Julius was met with an incredulous look from Rika. He had somewhat of a hard time believing this secret conveniently fell into the Hylian's lap mere moments after strolling into the town, especially when he had been searching for hours. He WAS the one chasing a skele-dog around all day in hopes of gaining entry, though, so perhaps he could not really judge. Regardless of whether what Julius said was true or not though, his plan seemed silly- couldn't the giant. . . Stalfos? just step over the rope? Perhaps the Hylian had access to some other, special power Rika did not yet know of that he was planning to use to stop him, and this was just a set up required to use it.

. . . Well, either way, Rika wouldn't lose much by playing along. "It's pretty ridiculous. Let's go." Rika affirmed, taking the other end of the rope and moving to the side of the trail opposite Julius. It wasn't like they were exactly stealthy- a giant, armor clad Hylian and a bright, red-garbed Kokiri were not two descriptors used for those difficult to spot out. He would just have to see what happened, though.

His foot touched the ice. They were down south, south enough for the ice to stick at least-- so, with his sword's length being the basis of each circular patch of frozen earth... He would have nowhere else to go! That's how Julius saw it, at least. He readied a bomb. He saw Rika doing... something, too, but he couldn't tell what.

The bomb impacted his foot with such a ferocity that Julius shielded his eyes-- getting tetanus from this would be... bad, he supposed. When he looked up at Captain Keeta, he saw that he was struggling to stay balanced. Picking another bomb from his Bomb Bag, he prepared another throw-- this time, he would fall. He threw it, and instead of impacting immediately, it just kind of... laid there. He would have gone over to check if the fuse was still burning-- an idiotic gesture to him. He knew that unless you deliberately submerged them in water, the fuse would still be burning.

BANG! WHOOSH! Suddenly, it all came crashing down, Captain Keeta's bones having given way. He ran over, both to make sure that Keeta wasn't harmed, and to declare dominance. Or, well, maybe it was a bit too early to actually declare dominance. But, still. Nothing like getting into a castle that just had to be full of information. He held his blade aloft, over Keeta's face. "And now, I declare you defeated!" ...is what he would have said, had it not been for the three Stalfos, who poised their swords at Julius.

With a leap, one of the three Stalfos lunged at Julius, seeming to be faster than your average Stalfos. He dodged at first, then, overconfident in his ability to strike at this Stalfos and make contact, missed. "Hrm. So you've had battle experience? Very well!" He said, seeming to swap stances.

This rope plan was stupid. There was no way this was going to trip up the colossal Stalfos captain, and as Keeta neared the duo, that became clearer and clearer to Rika. So, he decided to abandon the plan in favor of something he found to be far more effective- it seemed as though the Hylian had reached similar thoughts. Or, maybe this was his plan in the first place, and the rope was some sort of diversion? There was no way of knowing which was true, and Rika was hesitant to give him a lot of credit, but regardless of the truth, the rope still made little sense to him. While Julius drew a bomb, Rika formed his own explosive.

Chucking a crystalline orb at Keeta's other leg in synchronization with Julius, the explosive forces of fire and shrapnel, combined with the intense pressurized force Aqua Grenade brought, seemed to deal a considerable blow to the titan. Though, while it seemed to have some effect on the massive skeleton, and though a powerful blow it was, it was ineffective in bringing him to his knees. They were so close, too! They couldn't give up now. One palm thrusted forward, a glowing circle formed just behind Keeta, the other plunging into a pouch at his waist. Hurriedly, a small barrage of diminutive packets flung forward, signaled by the second bomb in Julius's assault.

An explosion of force echoed between them, sending Captain Keeta catapulting backwards, and straight into the spire twisting out of the ground and piercing into him. For a brief moment, Rika wondered if they were going overboard- if they killed him, it would be quite bad. Surely he was capable of taking such an assault, especially due to his large and undead nature. Surely he would be fine, right? The spire would hopefully pin him down for at least a short moment. At least, that was what Rika had in mind.

. . . But as Julius went to declare victory over the Captain, a trio of Stalfos burst forth from his chest, armored with blades and ready to fight. Quick to join the right, Rika readied his scythe and rushed forward, swiping at a Stalfos readying a lunge at Julius's side. Aware of the Kokiri's presence, it withdrew back to avoid his assault. These Stalfos were more than smart- getting swarmed by them would spell doom for anyone. Were they Keeta's men, come to protect him, or were they a part of Keeta himself, like some sort of spawn of his pure fighting prowess and intellect? Surely this was part of the test Keeta had bestowed upon them that Julius had explained.

Rika would not relent in his assault forward, however. If they were spawns of Keeta, it was surely possible they were mentally linked, in some way. Were that the case, fighting reactively would be a certain way to lose.

--

Why were they fighting the bony friends? Sure, usually when Rika encountered skellingtons, he beat them up. The ones here seemed nice, though. He was never afraid they would eat him- though, Wollo wondered if the mean ones would eat him. They were all bones, right? Did they eat anything? That thought made Wollo comfortable around them- he knew he was safe. But. . . wait, what if they were trying to capture Wollo, to take to their evil overlord that would eat him? They were crafty, that was for sure. Wollo would not fall for their dastardly tricks of consumption, though! Not that he could do much, if they did. That must have been why Rika always beats the skeletons up. Does that mean these guys were trying to take him to their leader as well? Wollo could not even fathom the thought.

Julius threw a bomb into the group, clearly intent on scattering them. Seeing that that was at his feet, he promptly used his Backshift Cape, going back about five feet. The three scattered-- one landing right by him, almost like some kind of cruel invention of fate. Well, he had faced stronger things-- this was going to be easy.

He drew his blade, forming the stance for a Spin Attack almost naturally. He unleashed it just as quick as he'd formed it-- unleashing a whirling vortex of death. He hit the Stalfos, his moderate amount of armor protecting him from the blow-- or seeming to, at least. The skeleton's arm was hanging off, though-- Julius considered that a win in his book. He defended against the Stalfos' blows as best he could, then saw what he was trying to do.

He then literally threw the Stalfos over his head, right into the other Stalfos-- who Rika was fighting and-- oh god he threw that Stalfos right at Rika. He hated that about himself-- he was constantly getting other people involved, when they had no right to be. Oh well, he supposed, choosing to rush into it instead.

It was perfect for them that Julius had split them up- one of the three Stalfos had been momentarily separated from the trio, leaving them each with one Stalfos for the time being. Rika's blade clashed with his foe's, the Stalfos wary of the range Rika's scythe possessed. Though their clashing continued, Rika would seem to come out the victor- as their weapons crossed once more, the tip of his scythe sparked as a bolt of flames launched out, blasting the Stalfos in its bony skull and sending it catapulting off its body. Though not defeated, this would put the Stalfos at a significant disadvantage, and surely spelled Rika's victor- what was that.

As if on cue, Rika's eye caught a glimpse of Julius's actions, and the fact that he had just flung a Stalfos at them. Why did he just do that. Rika was surprised by the catapulting Stalfos, but there was little time for him to think about why, he had to act. Twisting into a vertical spin, Rika's blade frosted over as a chilling wave of power vaulted from his spin, cleanly slicing through and freezing the Stalfos's remains. The large, broken, frosted bits slid past Rika and spread out across the ground behind him.

Landing from his spin, Rika had no time to recover as he felt cold, bony hands viciously grab at his body. He felt himself move, the headless Stalfos chucking him away as if mimicking Julius's own unique move. It was a hasty throw, but Rika crashed and tumbled to the ground a fair distance away. It gave the Stalfos more than enough time to recover its now fractured and somewhat shattered, but still mostly intact and functional skull.

Seeing the Stalfos as defeated, Julius hurried and got another bomb from the pouch at his waist. He threw it-- and it landed several feet behind where one Stalfos was standing. Not quite his mark, but at least it was something. Running over there, he somewhat successfully performed a Helm Splitter, hearing the crack of at least a few bones.

The bomb exploded. Debris-- dirt, dust, and fragments of bone-- were included, though the smoke cloud obscured his vision for a while. It wasn't long before the other Stalfos came barging through the smoke to attack, almost unexpectedly. Julius couldn't hear, either-- one of the few side effects of using bombs for a bit too long, no doubt. He tried to overmuscle the Stalfos, but decided that, for once, that wasn't going to be an option. Throwing all of his weight behind his shield arm, he decided to attempt to stun the Stalfos. Then, he could properly strike.

The blow was launched. The Stalfos, apparently having seen this move coming, jumped out of the way. It struck at him with his sword. The blade pierced his armor easier than it should have-- a holdover from some ancient age, perhaps. Rika did say something about an ancient civil war, after all. A yell came involuntarily from him as he experienced pain. Actual, lasting pain.

Had it really been so long since he'd experienced pain?

The Stalfos and Rika were both in states of recovery, as if they both needed a breather after the respective assaults they had delivered- and received. Bringing himself up, he could feel the dirt fall from his messed hair- if he had endured any scrapes from that fling, it would be masked by the dust he had been coated in. More importantly at the moment, Rika had found that midst his travels, he had lost a finger on his scythe- his primary weapon rest between him and the Stalfos. Furthermore, the Stalfos had managed to recover its skull and now seemed to be in full fighting force- though a wide crack split from its left eye up to the center of its cranium, and what would be its nosepiece seemed to have been blown away entirely. Rika wondered briefly if those would actually affect its combat prowess, but the Kokiri had to assume, for the moment, that it wouldn't.

It was a race for his weapon. Rika made a mad dash to get a hand on his weapon in time, while the Stalfos looked to lay claim to the territory to deprive Rika of his main weapon. Rika was faster, and he knew that- yet, even if he grabbed his weapon, if this race went on as it was, it simply left him defenseless for the Stalfos to continue his run into a charge. As he neared his scythe, Rika hastily flung his hand forward, sending a crude orb flying forward at the Stalfos. He had used it previously, so Rika was sure that it was aware of its functions- enough to not charge directly into it.

Just as he expected, the Stalfos' rush was abandoned, leaping back defensively a few feet and putting distance between it and the scythe that Rika wanted. Yet, the orb did not seem to expunge, instead falling to the ground with momentum and shattering into a normal puddle of water. With his ploy a success and a grip on his scythe, Rika faced the Stalfos once more. With his weapon back, Rika wasted little time going on the offensive. Dashing forward towards the Stalfos, he saw it wind its arm back, powerful energies swarming around the undead skeleton and converging on its blade. It was the telltale signs of a Spin Attack, and not something Rika would be unprepared for.

So, in two simultaneous moments, Rika snatched a small packet out of a pouch on his side, and slid. The wave of force rocketed outward in a circle, beating down upon Rika from above- though the effect was greatly diminished, it was stronger than Rika had anticipated, tearing and beating across his body. Yet, he still managed to unleash the packet in his hands. The spin attack collided with the Ignition Powder, sending a wave of force back at the Stalfos and interrupting his Spin Attack. The Stalfos was sent flying back from the impact, spinning through the air and landing about a dozen feet away.

Rika had to finish him now- yet, it seemed as though Julius was struggling. Beating two at once would prove to be difficult, so he would have to help. Sliding one of his daggers out with a 'shhhk', he flung it toward the Stalfos, crying out, "Warrior, heads up!" As it left his fingertips, trails of frost echoed off the blade, threatening to encapsulate whatever it hit in a crystalline chill. Hopefully it would prove useful to the warrior- Rika had likely given up his chance to end the other Stalfos, but if this gambit was successful, it would result in a two versus one in their favor, almost guaranteeing their victory.

Julius snapped out of the pain, seeing the thrown knife. He spun to the left of the knife, putting the Stalfos in an arm bar. It promptly collapsed, which left him holding a disembodied arm. Reacting to this, he dropped a bomb directly on top of where it had fallen apart.

The knife struck Julius in his torso. Naturally, a knife didn't pierce his armor-- but the enchantment took effect, and while it had frosted over the outside of his armor, it stopped the moment it reached the White Hide he kept under his armor. For once, it seemed he owed a debt to Sienna.

He looked at it for only a second, making sure the fuse was lit, before using his Backshift Cape to leap back about five feet. He turned and ran, as the bomb exploded behind him.

He faced the Stalfos. He looked down upon his minuscule form, giving him a sort of death glare. "Your comrades are defeated," Julius said, drawing his sword. He continued, "You are outnumbered and outwitted. Surrender."

“Very well. I concede.” The voice echoed from the skeletal head, its jawline rattling along with each word. “As you have overcome my trial and proven yourselves to be warriors of capable value, I shall allow you into the castle.” Keeta spoke, to which Rika was quick to comment. “Not that I bring issue with letting us in, but I have one question- why? Are you not a captain of Ikana’s forces? Why assist intruders with entering?”

“I cannot answer that at this moment. Just know that your trials are not yet at an end- you shall find yourself with opposition even inside. A word of caution, warriors; while the two of you have displayed your individual skill well, as comrades you falter. My men are not to be underestimated, and should you fight together as you did against I, Captain Keeta, you will surely find your end inside.” Rika frowned. Unfortunately, there was some truth to what he was saying. Their coordination was poor, which, admittedly, was to be expected; Rika had not even learned the man’s name. Rika doubted they would perish, though- perhaps maybe from the error of one another, but certainly not to any foe encountered inside.

“Thus, the two of you should seek to become as if one blade. Once any preparations are complete, return to this place and call my name; I shall guide you then.” With his final words, the Stalfos dissolved into the ground below, leaving Rika and Julius standing alone in a field with Wollo off shortly in the distance.

Rika’s eyes shifted upward towards Julius. Generally, he somewhat loathed working with someone he had only met moments ago, but they were essentially stuck together now. At the very least, Julius had proven himself capable in a fight, even if he had flung a Skeleton at Rika and made him miss a killing blow twice in a row. “The name’s Rika.” He introduced, wiping any dirt that had collected on his hat or head in the meanwhile.

--

Wollo was not sure what had just happened. Was the skeleton friendly now? What about the tin man? Rika was not swinging anymore, so the fighting seemed to be over. The Octorok waddled over to Rika curiously- perhaps the new friends Rika had made would come back, and Wollo could meet them as well.

"Julius Surgate," he said, extending his hand for a handshake. He eyed the Kokiri up and down, knowing that he was probably an experienced mage. "So, I take it you're an experienced magic user? Must be nice. I would have magic, but... I'm not very apt for it. At all, even. I'm as dry as they come. I've read everything about it, but... can only summon a Keese for whatever reason. Mind, it's not a normal Keese. I can actually see through it, and it also has the effects of my Lens of Truth for whatever reason. I imagine it probably would have the effects of a Hawkeye, too, now that I possess one."

He paused, thinking. "So what's with that Octorok, anyways? A friend of yours? The Kokiri I've worked with always seem to be able to speak to animals, somehow. Probably... a spell, if I'm correct. What's his name?"