Panting, Alpha dodges the blade of another Hakiem, then thrusts his fist into the man’s neck, listening as his breath tries to escape his windpipe as it is crushed. Seeing a large group charging at him, he puts his hands together again, allowing another fiery orb to form there. ‘There's just too many of them.’ he thinks. ‘We need another diversion, like the one Karunik gave us. He may have been harder to beat, but at least a four-on-one fight would give us a chance to rest!’ He launches the bright sphere of flames into the Hakiems’ midst, jumping out of the way as several scorched bodies tumble down to where he had been standing. Silently he surveys the rest of the battle. Raven has somehow gotten a break in the midst of the fighting, and though Arco is unseen, Alpha can still hear the bard’s music doing…something. Grenada remains in the wall, probably recovering. Suddenly a thought crosses his mind. “Wait a second…where’s Shada?”


Far above the battlefield, Karunik lets out an angry yell. “Where is that coward?” He wonders to himself why Zaris wouldn’t show himself, until an answer he likes pops into his head. “He must be afraid of my new power.” He laughs pridefully as he thinks this aloud. “That must be it! Scared fool, I dare you to show yourself!”

"As you wish."

Zaris flies forward, moving so fast that he is seen only as a black streak of light. With the force of a stampede he slams into the Hakiems. Karunik’s mouth opens wide as the pain overwhelms him. As he collapses to the ground, unconscious and near death, the red mist that has surrounded him slowly dissipates. Zaris looks at him for a second, then turns away. "He'll live, barely."


Zaboorak slowly turns around, facing the shadows made by the cliffs. “Sssuch a fool. You mean to challenge me, Ssshada?”

Shada slowly lowers her Shadowmeld. “I do. You ordered the attack on my home all those years ago!” Her smile suddenly turns vicious as her eyes narrow in anger.

“Time to make you pay." She instantly takes up a fighting pose, arms out in front and legs spread wide, evenly distributing her weight. She places her left hand over her right, the stance for preparing an Elemental Burst.

Zaboorak lets off a laugh. “Don’t make me wassste my time!” His right arm shoots out, pointer finger extended. Quicker than Shada can consciously react, a red bolt of light forms on his finger and lances towards her. “Polymorph!”

Reflexively her training takes over. “Elemental Burst! Shadow!” A black mass of energy reaches out of the shadowy hillside, condensing into a ball in her hands. Time seems to slow as hundreds of dark rays shoot out at the Zora, tearing into his robe and skin. ‘Impresssive, I mussst sssay,’ he thinks as he embraces the pain of the attack. ‘To think that a pathetic Sssheikah like her can have such a great massstery over an attack.’ One of the orbs smashes into his face, forcing him backwards and off of the cliff. He quickly gains control of his fall and lands on the mountainside. His face shows no sign of injury, but an annoyance flashes in his eyes. “Impresssive indeed. That actually might leave a ssscar. Too bad sssuch an amusssing challenge isss now nothing more than a common farm animal.”

"Guess again, Zaboorak."

The Zora’s eyes shoot up like arrows to see Shada standing there, rubbing the back of her neck, but still in her Sheikah form. ‘Very, very impressive…’ he thinks. “How did you manage to avoid my ssspell?”

“I didn’t. I let your attack hit me, but then I hit myself.”

He nods in understanding. “You aimed one of your own attacksss at yourssself, and were knocked back to normal.” He stands back, looking at her long and hard. ‘An ingeniousss idea. How could I have not ssseen it coming? Ssshe may not be up to my level of power, but ssshe hasss intelligence.’ Suddenly, anger begins to well up inside of him. ‘How could I have allowed thisss? Ssshe hasss made a mockery of my favorite technique, and therefore of myssself!’ His brow narrows, and it seems that a dark-yellow shadow slowly creeps into his eyes as the anger takes hold. “For that, ssshe ssshall die by my own handsss!” His hands fly outward as he mumbles a spell beneath his breath. A flash of light shoots down from the heavens, striking the Zora without hurting him. “Thunder!” The lightning attack blasts out of his hands, swarming like honeybees toward a flower. It pushes through the shield Shada has hastily thrown up, finally cracking through it. Shada is thrown back against the wall, but manages to survive due to the shield taking up almost half of the attack’s power.

His respite ended as a new wave of Hakiems rushed towards him. He stood apparently relaxed, with his arms by his side, his finger tapping the handle of his dagger, as they surrounded him.

He had realised that he could not keep up the role as the aggressor, so he just stood waiting for them to attack him. It was almost a battle of wills amongst the Hakeims as they waited for someone to lead the attack, yet no-one appearing to want to.

Soon enough, a Hakiem let out a yell with his sword held in front of him, he charged towards Raven. Raven simply sidestepped out of the way of the poorly executed attack. He grabbed his arm and with a twist of his wrist made him drop his sword and pulled his arm behind his back. As another Hakiem attacked him from behind he spun round and the Hakiem he had caught, helped him by stopping the attack with his body, he let go and the Hakiem fell to the ground shortly followed by his shocked comrade.

Raven used the many tricks he had been taught; the ones he used most during this particular melee were focused on taking out a threat using a little energy as possible. With a small flick of his dagger he could divert the thrust of a Hakiem's sword and with attacks to the arms and legs he could disable many of the Hakiems rending them no longer a threat.

As the final Hakiems attacked all at once he ducked under the blades as they crossed above his head, and doing a poor imatation of Link's famous spin attack he felled the final members. Stumbling out from the mound of bodies around him Raven emerged victorious, sweat pouring down his face he knew he could keep this up much longer, but as more Hakiems appear and make their way towards him he knows he has few other options available to him. He looks up as he hears the sound of lightning above him as sees a Zora attacking someone higher on cliff, he can't see who exactly as the sweat gets into his eyes.

What choice do I have? Stay hear and fight a never ending battle or fight against a Zora with more power than I have seen before. Either way I'm dead, but do I want to go out with a wimper or a bang? Ideally I wouldn't want to die, but looks like I only have one choice to make.

Raven then starts to make he way towards the cliff and his fate.

We've got to even this up...

Still transparent, Arco finds himself an open space in the melee, and slumps down, resting on one knee. Taking stock of his remaining physical and magic energy, he bows his head over his hurdy gurdy, which he continues to tune to perfection.

I can't manage a mass distance hit after the song I've already played, but...

The air in a vertical column above Arco wavers and distorts, like a mirage in a baking desert. You hear Arco scream shrilly as his huddled shape hints into view again, the Meld weakened from the exertion of... something.

"Vigor's Lament!"

Any "green" effects from the previous song are gone, replaced by a tinkling, plucking sound. The shadowmeld strips away from Arco's sillouhette; even his clothes seem to tatter as any remaining physical strength is forcibly extracted from his body. His skin turning a shade of dark grey, then a disturbingly bare white, Arco collapses from his kneel to supporting himself on all fours. Simultaneously, a blood-red double-helix of bodily energy shoots up from the Bard into the air, only to change color at the apogee of its height, some 50 feet above, and drop back down in a hail of blue and green... spell energy? all of which Arco seems to absorb. The result of this is a figure engulfed by a thick, steady glow of colors vascillating from cyan, to green, to a soft lilac.

And then...

"Restoration's Throng!"

The apparition that had clouded around Arco disappears, leaving behind a heap of drained Sheikah. Hands still in place--left hand sprawled over the keys in a simple chord, right hand in middair, a testimony to a single, forced throw of the crank--a deafening echo of sound flies away from him. From a bird's-eye-view it would seem that a single blast had sent ripples--one, two, three of them--from his position.

These swells move steadily through the Hakiem masses, but surprisingly seem to do nothing to them, other than causing the ranks to look up in wonder. Meanwhile, Arco drops from sight a final time, his remaining resources devoted to a last, defensive Shadowmeld.

Deku swordsman who wields his sword better than those triple his size can,
Sheikah mages with dark memories, with scars seen and unseen,
Mystery Rogue with Raven-wing hair, fighting in the shadow of old master and friend,
Onviere!

It is these people, fighting against the Hakiems, who are affected. For each of them, a small white orb breaks off from the wave and hovers near their feet. This orb encircles at ankle-height for a few circles, but then speeds its revolutions as it moves up the body, orbiting quicker, tighter, and further up, until finally it breaks off from it's host and soars off, towards the sky--when you realize that it was Fairy, which sprouts tiny wings and flies off, into the distance. But the remaining effect is what startles you--you find your wounds mostly healed, much of your health rejuvenated, and some of your energy back... and the music rings in your head.

OOC: Hope the healing doesn't ruin anything for anyone; if it does, just ignore it. Basically "Sonata of Restoration," except for 4 people.

Zaboorak fires off another Polymorph spell at Shada, who, in midair, gracefully twists around the white beam, letting it pass by her harmlessly. The Zora clenches his teeth in frustration. 'Thisss Sssheikah isss almossst too ssskilled! Her reflexesss are very good.' He glances down at his left arm, and a sudden pulse of energy seems to burst outward from it. But the sensation quickly passes as Zaboorak struggles to maintain his composure. 'If I am forced to ussse that againssst her, then I will be more disssgraced than if I had merely lossst thisss fight. No weakling dessservesss to be defeated with that power.'

Shada, seeing that Zaboorak is temporarily lost in thought, charges forward. The moment she steps within arm's reach, the Zora's gaze shoots up as his arm grabs her neck in a lightning fast move. "No, no. You are not that ssskilled; otherwissse you would have never fallen for sssuch an obviousss ploy." Amidst the evil chuckle that follows he hears footsteps. his smile grows quite large as he pulls Shada to within inches of his face. "Another fool approachesss? Well, I ssshall jussst have to have the honor of killing you both today." Again moving with almost unseeable speed, Zaboorak turns and flings Shada at Raven like a ball.


Alpha smiles as Arco's gift restores him. "That's more like it! Thanks -" he glances around, swinging his staff all the while to block swords and smack heads as he does so. "Arco? Where are you?"


OOC: Everyone who's only reading this stuff, I invite you to participate in the slaughter. It may seem like you'd be coming in on the middle of it, but Alpha will be happy to take the time to explain things to you! I'd appreciate any help I can get in making the conclusion of Master Search a big success!

Besides, how else do you think you'll get me to tell you more about these Golden Ones?

Victor walks across the highlands, spots the nearby struggle, and walks towards it. Seeing Alpha, he half-walks, half-runs in his direction. Nearing the Sheikah, he gets a better look at the fight: Grenada at the center of a crater, Arco lying on the ground, and quite a few unknown others fighting amongst what seemed to be an army. Quickly, he queried Alpha:

"What's going on here?"

"Oh, hey Victor," Alpha replies as he forces his staff into another Hakiem's stomach. Even though the Hakiems continue to flow towards him like a river to the ocean, he only gives them a portion of his attention as he tries to give Victor the short version of what's been happening lately. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain, but basically these guys we're fighting are members of the Hakiems tribe. They're led by this Zora named Zaboorak, who's been trying to kill my master, Zaris, for nearly twenty years. So we set a trap for them...but they didn't fall for it. So now everyone's fighting while we wait for Master to show up and help us against Zaboorak - what!" He finally spots Shada fighting - or, trying to fight - against the Zora. "Oh great. What in Nayru's wisdom is Shada thinking?"

"Shada? Who's Shada? Damn it, I'm confused!"

Victor watches as Alpha plows through one Hakiem after another. He wonders how evil this tribe must be to justify such a massacre. Obviously Alpha seems to be directly connected to them... come to think of it, Victor had never heard of any Master Zaris...

"Since when do you have a master? You've never mentioned one before..."

"Shada - the girl on the mountainside foolishly fighting the Zora. Who happens to be Zaboorak," Alpha replies as he dodges the swipe of a blade. He instantly reaches in, grabs the Hakiem's robe, and replicates Zaboorak's move against Shada by throwing the Hakiem at several other warriors, who promptly fall to the ground. "As for Master...let's just say that there's a lot of stuff in my past that no one knows about, save for myself. And it'll be a lot better if it stays that way." For one moment, when he isn't fighting or dodging or avoiding death, he stares straight at Victor, giving him a sorrowful yet stern look. "I don't like to talk about my past," he says, his voice saturated with seriousness.

Victor nods in understanding. Pasts are personal, after all. He takes a quick look at Shada and Zaboorak, then back at Alpha using Hakiems as dominos.

"So....what? We just kill them? Just like that?"

He watched the others battling their own Hakiems, not seeming to worry about possible ramifications.

"How bad are these guys? I mean... are they so evil that they are no longer worthy of mercy?"

OOC: Sorry for the philosophical outlook, guys, but I've got to stay in character! Victor's not too used to laying waste.

"Well," Alpha pauses, unsure as to how to say this, "yes and no. We do kill them, but normally it's not like this. These guys are initiates, basically weaklings. They would normally put up a much better fight. And it would normally be more obvious that we're doing this out of self-defense.

"See, if a man ever kills a member of the Hakiems tribe, the entire tribe hunts them and all of their associates down and kills them, slowly and painfully. Master killed his first one in self-defense. At this point in time, he's probably killed many thousands because they continually come to fight him. And when I traveled with him, I killed one too. And now everyone here has killed one. They'll never leave any of us alone until either we all die...or they do." Alpha, finished with his little speech, glances around at the bodies that he has defeated in the meantime.

"Ah. I see."

Victor finally understood the reasons behind the carnage. But even still, he had to convince himself that it was right:

"So the Hakiems only attack someone who has attacked a Hakiem themselves. Interesting. That would make it pure self-defense to kill all these Hakiems. But what if a Hakiem is the first to be attacked? Who would be the evil ones then? The Hakiems would be acting in self-defense themselves. Gah! I'm so confused..."

But before Victor can decide on who was right, a lone Hakiem came charging in Alpha's direction. Missing the Sheikah, it accidantally grazed Victor's left arm. With a gasp of pain Victor clutched his arm. Letting go quickly, he turned to find the Hakiem returning to finish the job. In a mix of self-defense and pure spite, Victor whisked out his dagger and slit the Hakiem's throat. It was on...

In the blink of an eye Victor was confronted by two more Hakiems. He saw the hate in their eyes, their scowling lips. He saw their weapons glinting in the sun. Weapons pointed at him, ready to kill him. It was then that he realized that Alpha was right.

Withour hesitation, Victor ran towards the smaller Hakiem. Dodging a thrust in his direction, he managed to get behind it. Without a second thought, Victor shoved his dagger into the fiend's back. It shrieked in pain before falling limp.

Using the dagger as a handle, Victor manipulated the strength brought on by pure adrenaline to lift the Hakiem in the air. Using it as a crude, but effective, shield, Victor pulled out his boomerang and threw it in the direction of the second Hakiem. It returned to his hand almost before the Hakiem fell with a thud to the ground.

Turning back to Alpha, Victor grinned slightly. His arm was bloody, as was the hand grasping the dagger/handle. He had a rag-tag look about him, but he seemed elated.

"How was that, Alpha?"

"Uh...very good, Victor," Alpha says, shocked at his efficient fighting style. 'Glad he's on my side...' With a grim look on his face, he continues: "Of course, now they'll be after you too. You're now trapped in this struggle as well. I know you aren't fond of battle, but, well..." his voice trails off as he attacks, twisting his staff around in one of the Hakiem's stomach, then flinging him away onto another opponent.

"You'd better start getting used to it."

"Well, I chose to join the fight, didn't I? Trust me, I have every intention of winning. Now then, Arco seems to be hurt..."

And with that, Victor was off with his Hakiem shield in hand. He literally plowed through the waves of soldiers, every once in a while throwing his boomerang ahead to fell some advancing Hakiems, to get to the fallen bard.

"Arco, what's wrong?"

As he climbs up the cliff he finds himself surrounded by orbs of glowing white light, as they spin around him his breathing slows, his heart rate lowers and the many minor wounds he received from battle were healed, the pain from the cut to his arm was also reduced. Feeling rejuvenated he makes the rest of the way up with renewed vigour.

As he clambers up the final ledge he finds himself behind the Zora as Shada charges; he sees this chance to make his move and cloaking himself in Shadowmeld he moves in. As he does so she gets caught by the lightning fast Zora, but with his attention still on Shada, he still sees this as an opportunity for an attack.

That opportunity soon disappears as he finds himself with Shada travelling towards him at speed. Having little time to react, Raven finds he has just enough time to utter 'Oh, Goddesses' before Shada crashed into him.

The impact knocked him back and to the ground, as well as knocking him out of Shadowmeld. Groaning as he gets up he says 'I never knew that having girls throw themselves at you could be so dangerous.'

'Anything broken?' He asks Shada, who landed close beside him, as he goes to help her off the ground.

Shada quickly regains her senses. "Move it!" she yells at Raven, kicking him out of the way of an oncoming Polymorph, then rolling away from the blast herself. "Sorry about that, but a fight is hardly a good time to be all courteous and gentlemanly." She resumes a fighting stance, standing ready for another Polymorph.

Zaboorak grimaces. 'Thessse foolsss ssshall sssoon be out of my way. Once he comesss, I ssshall take his power and the end of the Golden Onesss' resssissstance ssshall finally arrive! I ssshall finally be victoriousss, and then the ultimate power ssshall be within my grasssp...the one that even my former massster wasss unable to retain control over. Even the Hero ssshall fall at my handsss!' Yet even as he thinks these words, he feels the anger boiling inside him again as Shada gracefully leaps away from another Polymorph spell. 'Outrageousss! How isss it that I keep misssing? Even if ssshe isss the ssstudent of the Golden Sssheikah, I ssshould be able to at leassst hit her once!' He struggles to maintain his composure, knowing full well what would happen if he allowed his temper to force him into doing something rash...

'That's it, Shada. He's getting angry. Keep it up, and perhaps you all can survive this fight,' Zaris thinks telepathically. He has returned to a rocky outcrop and hidden himself well within the jagged rocks and large boulders. 'If he releases some of his powers on them, I'll actually stand a good chance against him. I only hope that nothing else happens to force my hand...'

Alpha leaps back onto the pile of bodies he has created over time. Quickly smashing his staff into one of the Hakiems' head, he leaves the man to fall on his own and swings it like a bat at another man's chest, crushing his breastplate and battering his heart to death. Seeing no one else around, he hears a voice in the back of his mind. 'Alpha! Get everyone to start working themselves towards higher ground!'

Alpha's head comes up in a flash as he glances over to where Zaboorak fires another Polymorph, this time at Raven. "He wouldn't...well, actually, I guess he would," he thinks aloud. "Whatever you say, Master." He immediately sprints over to where Arco and Victor are to deliever the message, batting any Hakiem in his way. When close enough to them, he says, "Start working your way up towards the cliff. These initiates are no longer our problem; they'll be gone soon enough."