As the light disappears without a trace, Yukie is forced to blink several times. Surely his aim had not been so off! He had been absolutely certain that the flaming torch would be cut so that it would only be impossible to hold - the flame should not have died off under any circumstance. Well, too bad; something had gone wrong, and while Yukie couldn't explain it, he could at least accept it and use it to his advantage.

Knowing that the Goron now had nothing dangerous on one side of him, Yukie rushes over to that side even as he senses the darkness that he sees through his Nature Sense turns around in a second attempt to trample them. Then his Sense picks up Flit readying another technique - one that he has used before. Recognizing the pattern that the Deku exhibits while preparing this skill of his, Yukie leaps against the wall and is fortunate to find a small crevice in the rock that he can use as a handhold. He immediately grabs on just before the wind begins blowing.

Keeping his Sense peeled and ready, Yukie sees the dark mass that is their foe as he barrels out of control, careening off course and smashing right into the wall. By the way the thing unrolls, it can be inferred that he has done so in the worse possible way - stomach up. His weak area is completely exposed, for now. Of course, by the time his mind catches up with his reflexive actions and informs him of this, Yukie is already coming down with both blades to pierce into the Goron's stomach, not letting the opportunity pass him by.

~Though it was too dark to see it, and because it blended in so well with the shadows not even Yukie could sense it at the moment, the torch had dissapeared. It had been a part of the shadowy environment, simply an aid for the goron gaurd, and was not actually real. That didn't mean that it couldn't burn a deku to a crisp, and that the gaurds battle axe would have trouble making them into lumber.

Flit heard the sound of blades sweeping through the air. Though he was pratically paralyzed with pain, he still managed to smile. The cursed creature had been caught off gaurd, and the battle might end sooner than he expected.

That indeed seemed to be the case. Yukie's two blades slid easily into the goron's exposed stomach. It didn't scream in pain like one might expect, but instead dissapated into the air, much like the torch. Flit was surprised. The sound of the goron breathing, and the noise he made on the ground had suddenly stopped, leaving the two deku in silence, aside from their own breathing.

He was also more than a little surprised when he saw another light, accompanied by the familiar footsteps from before. They were at the end of the hallway, around a corner, opposite of the way they had just come. It seemed that the goron gaurd wasn't the only creature, and was a possibility that this one would be more prepared than the last one.

That wasn't the least of their problems. Flit's leg injury was pretty badly injured. He looked up at Yukie, while slowly rising to his feet from his knees.

"Do you have any way to heal this."

He winced in pain, while keeping a cautious eye on the lit corridor. The deku wasn't in the mood for any unpleasant surprises. He wasn't sure where to go next. They could always back track and take the other fork, or they could forge onwards and take the risk against another gaurd. Flit wasn't in the mood for fighting. He had been hurt enough already, but left the desicion to Yukie. He didn't have enough willpower left in him to pave the path through the darkness.~

As the creature of darkness beneath his blade abruptly vanishes away, Yukie barely has the time to push off against the withering form and leap away, lest he fall into the suddenly opened space and land on his own two weapons. That would certainly not be a pleasant experience. As he lands against the ground on the other side of the passage, though, the strangeness of the event that has just occurred registers in his mind. The Goron - if it had truly been one of the stone people - had vanished upon the blow that would have normally been a death blow. Perhaps some sort of dark creation of black magic, or was it a teleportation spell? There's no way to tell, Yukie finally decides, and no time to do so either, he abruptly realizes.

The light coming from down the hallway alerts him to the approach of some other being. A grin flashes over his face momentarily as he considers the fate of that Goronic being. It truly didn't matter what had happened to the body; now that it had vanished from sight, there was no evidence of his and Flit's existence in this area, and no evidence that a fight had ever taken place. Unless there was some sort of magic that would allow this newcomer to be aware of it . . . but Yukie pushes such things from his mind. Especially once Flit's request for help reaches his ears.

Flit's knee appeared to be hurting him, but the extent of the damage could not be determined by sight, not now. The light was growing at this point, but by the time it got close enough to be truly useful, Yukie would be forced back into battle, and this time by himself; Flit would be nearly useless in his current state. Thinking about the question posed to him, a thought pops into the elder Deku's head. "Well, we could try to use my Royal Spirit, but that there technique is supposed ta only be used on myself. Still, I guess it might be worth a shot."

Looking back to the light, he shakes his head. "But not right here; too dangerous ta be sure. We gotta git outta here, an' fast!" Making one swift motion, Yukie grabs Flit by the arms, lifts him up, and starts running off in the direction opposite from the one which the light is approaching from.

~Flit founded himself whipped off the ground, as Yukie ran back to where they had stopped before. At the intersection, he tried to spread out his senses to the surrounding area.

He could still here the sound of footsteps but they were faint. He had no way of knowing it, but the gaurd had turned, and started to walk the other direction, instead of rounding the corner.

What he heard from the other side was much more interesting. Like before, he could here the sounds of ragged breathing and chains. If the deku wasn't so paranoid about what lay in the darkness of this abysal place, he would think that someone was... injured?

As his mind came to that word, the pain triggered once again. Flit was beginning to lose the feeling in his leg, but the pain was in no way lessened. He could faintly feel the long cut, going from his lower hamstring to just above the achilles tendon. The deku was probably losing blood quickly, but he couldn't see anything in the blackness.

He had to trust Yukie. The other deku had said something about healing, but the deku didn't know what he was talking about. He decided to leave it to the older traveller, and hope that he would be able to be some use in any fights to come.~

Yukie continues to run to the intersection, then immediately turns to move as if he was heading back to the entrance the Skull Kid had led them to earlier. As soon as he moves into the branch from the tunnel, though, he stops and sets Flit down as gently as he can. There's no way to be certain in such a dark place, but thanks to the minuscule amount of light offered by the guard - whose light suddenly seems to be growing dimmer, part of Yukie's brain acknowledges with surprise - he can see that his younger companion is gravely injured in the leg. 'Did that there Goron-thing do this to him? Or is this left over from that shadow thingy we faced off against when we first got 'ere?'

It doesn't matter; not at this point, anyway. There is one quick and easy way to fix this Deku up - though it may very well be impossible. There is a skill known only to Vassals such as Yukie, called Royal Spirit, which serves as a healing spell . . . but it is only meant to work on one's self, not on another being. Trying to use it on Flit could have any number of effects; anything could happen, from a full healing to nothing at all. Perhaps a delayed healing, or maybe the effects would only last for a certain period of time . . .

Didn't matter. It didn't matter right now, he had to try it as quickly as possible. If the technique failed then Yukie might need all the time he could spare to figure out some way to bandage up the wound and stop the bleeding. Trying to focus as hard as he can on transferring the healing power that threatens to come upon him instead, Yukie whispers, "Royal Spirit," and feels to healing energies flow. But will they flow through him, or through Flit?

After he finds that out, maybe they can investigate whatever it was that is making the noise coming from the other direction of the tunnel . . .

~Flit let out a slow groan as he felt a small amount of healing energy flow through his leg. It was not a clean healing; far from it. Because of the nature of Royal Spirit, most of the spell was channeled through Yukie, healing any scratches or bruises he might have. It had some affect on Flit, but did nothing to lessen the pain.

The long gash closed, nearly completely, leaving a smaller cut, and lots of scar tissue. Not all of the internal damage to the muscle was healed though, and the deku still found it a little difficult to move around his leg.

He rose slowly to his feet, and reached into one of the various pouches at his waist, pulling out a piece of linen cloth, and string. He tied it around his leg, gritting his teeth as the coarse cloth touched the wound. He pulled the string tightly around the makeshift bandage to make sure it stayed around his leg.

With the bleeding stopped, he shook his leg a few times, and tried his weight on it. Yukie's spell had helped, but he would have to be careful about how he fought with the injury. To keep his mind off the pain, he turned his thoughts to what they would do next.

It seemed prudent to stay away from the other gaurd, and move down the other fork of the intersection, towards the sounds coming from that direction. Flit wasn't sure what they would meet there, but held his dagger at the ready just in case.

He nodded thanks to Yukie, and then started to walk down the other passage, occasionally limping, but the cut didn't severly impair his walking pace. Not that the deku rushed down the passage. He didn't throw caution to the winds, but had all of his senses stretched tight for any hostile signs.

Suddenly, both walls seemed to dissapear. Flit groped to each side, and then reached out ahead, but everytime was met by the air. It seemed the two deku had entered a room. The breathing sounds had increased, and it seemed that whatever was there was in the middle of the room. The deku was surprised when a faint, raspy voice spoke.

"Are you....... alive."

It seemed that whoever was talking hadn't spoke in a long time, and his voice cracked from disuse. Flit was caught off gaurd and stood stock still for a moment before replying tentatively, "Yes. Who are you?"

"I lost all memory of my name long ago. I have been captured in this room for years. Please. Help me escape..... wait. Whats that? You two have to get out of here. There coming, flee."

Tittering laughter could be heard from the sides of the room. Flit's grip on his dagger tightened. He looked from side to side, but couldn't see through the darkness. Whatever hid in the shadows couldn't be detected. Not even with Yukie's nature sense.

"Its two late. There here."

That was the last thing that Flit heard from the strange captive for now, and evil cackling filled the room. Suddenly something was cutting through the thick air in the room, and Flit wasted no time falling to the floor, and under the attack. He didn't know the nature of the creatures that assaulted them, but they weren't friendly.~

Yukie grunts several times as the spell does its work, trying desperately to focus any and all of the healing effects to Flit that he can. In the end, it seems to do what he as much as he had been hoping for, and more than he'd been expecting. The spell seems to indeed do Flit some good, as his Nature Sense is quick to notice as the heavily injured leg slows in its bleeding and closes a good deal. Finally he knows that he cannot keep up the magic any longer - his focus is shot, for the next few minutes at least - and falls back to the ground, panting heavily from mental exhaustion rather than physical.

Sensing that Flit is bandaging up his leg with his own supplies, Yukie allows his head to lower down to the ground as he takes a perfectly horizontal position. A headache has come over him, but it disappears relatively quickly and is a small price to pay for even a partially successful use of the Royal Spirit. He makes a note to tell another one of his Vassal friends of this breakthrough; perhaps if others start training to use it on others they'll be able to get past the tired brain with experience, and then be able to use it on others at will. 'But that'll probably be a heck o' a long time in comin',' he thinks, and smirks as he realizes the headache is gone. That wasn't a bad price to pay at all.

Rising back to his feet just as Flit himself begins heading back into the tunnel where they'd fought that Goron-thingy, Yukie swiftly follows after his companion. Well, not too swiftly: Flit was being cautious with his leg, which was probably a good idea. But they aren't long in walking before the voice calls out to them. Yukie tries to use his Nature Sense to figure out who it is they're talking to - at least what race he is of - but can only tell this before his other senses respond to the mystery prisoner's warning.

His swords are drawn in a split second, and he instantly follows Flit's maneuver of diving to the ground to avoid whatever attack has been launched at them. He realizes even as he does so that his Nature Sense isn't picking up anything at all, and knows that there must be something he can do. Thinking quickly, he gets on the ground and lays horizontally yet again. Taking in a deep breath, he calls out to the others, "Don't look up!"

Then he rolls to the side, going from being on his belly to being on his back, then returning to the belly very fast. For on the second one of those, he launches a Deku Nut straight into the air. His head turning to face where the creature is, he awaits the Nut's explosion - he doubts it will stun them from so far away, but whenever a Nut explodes it gives off light, and maybe that will be enough to see what it is attacking them.

~Flit heard Yukie's cry, and stayed facing down. He wasn't idle though, and that saved his life. He immediately rolled to the left, and could feel the wind of something scything through the air and a strangely metallic clang as whatever was assaulting him missed and struck the ground. Then the deku nut burst.

The area was very briefly illuminated, revealing that they were indeed in a small room. In the center of the room was an area of swirling purple nothingness. It seemed that whoever was trapped was held withing that void. Those were the nicer parts of the room.

The deku were surrounded by horde of shadow creatures, each about the size of an imp poe. They had vibrant red claws, covered in a shadowy substance that seemed to drip off them. The most prominant feature however, was their red eyes. Although they are concealed in the darkness, when light is shined on them, they glowed the color of blood. It seemed their were about 15 of the creatures; a powerful force.

Flit however saw none of this. He could feel the burst of light, but then was rolling back to his feet, narrowly dodging another strike. His dagger was ready this time, and he swept it outwards towards the ground where he heard the blow hit, but could feel nothing. Somehow, the shadow had retracted quickly enough to completely dodge the deku's dagger strike. Flit narrowed his eyes. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought. That was true, but even more so for Yukie who had actually seen what they were up against. It seemed this battle was going to be a long one.~

Yukie swallows hard at the sight of what the two Deku are now up against. Never before in his life has he seen creatures such as these, and it seems his Nature Sense isn't up to the task of detecting them either - a grave cause for concern, at least for the elder of the pair. What kind of being is it that has no trace of nature within itself? Not alive? Nonexistent?

Well, whatever they are, Yukie knows from experience in the time since they'd entered these caverns that they are not indestructible, and that's the trait that really matters in this kind of circumstance. Swords in hand, Yukie darts forward. The Deku had forced his eyes to stay open when the bright flash had momentarily lit up the area, despite the pain his eyes, now used to being in completely darkness, had felt. But, as a positive result to the negative pain, he had managed to mentally map out the entire room and the positioning of each player in this deadly game.

Even though he knows that the creatures may very well have moved to the side in the time that had passed since the burst went off, Yukie hopes that perhaps they may be stunned from the light - they appear to be creatures of darkness, so who knows? Regardless, using his mental map to recall where one of the fifteen creatures had been placed, Yukie continues his charge, slashing away with his twin blades towards where it should be . . . and hoping that, if it's not, he'll have enough time to regain his guard before the things strike.

~Contrary to what one might think, the creatures were not stunned by the light. Mabye the first shadow they met would have some negative effects when exposed to light, but these creatures were made of tougher stuff than that. Besides, you can't have shadows without light.

Yukie's blade sliced through nothing but air, but it was hard to tell weither he sliced through one of the shadows or not because of their ethreal nature. The other shadows wasted no time in immediately lauching a counter attack on the older deku.

Two of the creatures, one on each side of him, lashed out at Yukie. The shadow on the side oh his attacking swordarm cut towards his arm, trying to disarm him, while the other went for his side, just trying to inflict damage.

While Yukie was caught in this double attack, Flit found himself in worse straights. He had jumped up to his feet, and lashed out with his dagger into the darkness. Like his companion, he felt nothing, but he heard tittering laughter from behind him, and spun around, dagger raised. He felt something slam against his blade, with a suprisingly great force, and the deku was flung to the ground.

It was about then that he felt to notice something was not right. Though the shadows were seemingly wrong, this was a natural habitat for them. In fact, the sense of wrong didn't come from anything in the corridor, but from inside himself.

The feeling reminded him of how he felt before, when he was poisoned. Flit could feel something unnatural running through his body. A frown creased his face, but he knew he didn't have enough time to worry about it. Instead, the deku jumped to his feet, and rose his daggers before him. The next attack might come from any direction.~

Launching his attack, Yukie is both frustrated and curious as his attack seems to slice through air. Had his blades hit something, or not? Without sight, and without the Nature Sense, there's no way he can tell - but one thing he does realize quite abruptly is that he is about to become the victim or not one, but two attacks, coming from opposite directions.

Immediately he thinks of dodging out of the way so as to have them attack each other, but he has no guarantee that they will continue going that far, or that they will not dodge themselves and come back after him almost immediately. While they're this close, so close that he can actually touch them and know through that sense when they vanish into the air, he has to take advantage of their proximity.

The whistling wind exposes what they're each targeting - one his sword arm, the other just plain him. After what Flit had gone through earlier, Yukie knows not to underestimate what might happen if he gets hit, and therefore refuses to allow such a thing to happen. But he only has a split second to figure out some way to defend against the oncoming . . . whatever (claws, swords, whatever they're using to strike) . . . he doesn't have enough time for a maneuver, a dodge, even a parry. The only way to defend against an attack that you cannot dodge or parry . . . is to strike before it does.

In an instant, his eyes narrow, and was there light Flit and the enemies might notice some sort of change in his eyes - they have become more fierce. His inner beast has once again been unleashed, as it was against that lone Sheikah assassin. Rather than go through a multiple slash attack, though, Yukie opts for a different method. Like against the vines in the Sacred Grove, Yukie takes in a quick breath and simply pushes outward with his mind, imagining anything in a five foot radius crumbling away against the sudden mental barrage.

~Two shrieks of pain filled the room, and echoed unnatuarally from stone wall to stone wall. Though that may be something to expect in a heated battle, what came after was even more unnerving: silence. All that Flit could hear was breathing, and the thumping of his heart.

The deku clutched his daggers tightly, and analyzed the situation. It seemed that Yukie had hit one of the shadows with an attack, and injured it. But why all the quiet? Where'd they go? Flit was pretty sure that there were quite a few of the creatures, and if all of them had shrieked at once, the sound would rock the corridors.

He concentrated on the senses that he still had avalible, but could hear nothing. The thick air was stagnant as usual. Flit turned towards where he could hear Yukie, and voiced his doubt alound.

"You think they're still here?"

As soon as he spoke, it started up again; the tittering laughter. But this time it was different. One could almost hear the anger in the laugh. The sound came from all sides, and comfirmed both Flit's statement and previous thoughts. There were indeed lots of them.

The deku settled into a crouch, but before he could even settle into a defensive position, he could feel the mad rush of air from all sides. He raised his daggers up in front of him in a last desperate defense, but then, to his surprise, felt the creatures zoom right past him. The entire group of shadows flew towards Yukie at frightening speed.

It didn't take more than a second for Flit to figure this out, but he couldn't do anything. What if he accidently hit his companion. So instead of rushing in, daggers slicing wildly, he stood and looked into the darkness, listening to get the gist of what was happening.~

As the room goes deafly silent, Yukie's guard only tightens. Could they have simply vanished? No, that would make sense. From what he's seen of these strange creatures thus far, they do have a physical form; they aren't ghosts, able to shift dimensions or pass through wall or any crazy stuff like that. At least that's what it seems, and if such an assumption is correct then there's no way for them to have fled so suddenly.

"I'm purty sure they ar-" the Deku begins to reply to Flit's question, just in time to be cut off by the sudden renewal of noise from these strange creatures. 'Aw great; what do they think is so funny?' And then, there is a sudden alteration in the air currents of the room. Specifically, he suddenly gets the feeling that every single one of them - however many there are - is coming straight at him. 'Not good,' he thinks with a gulp. "Not good!"

Against such a swarm, the Deku knows that he needs a very special technique, one that he often finds quite useful when going up against a large number of enemies. It's a rarely-employed technique, yet unique in the fact that pretty much anyone, warrior or not, can use it effectively. True, few non-warriors ever think to use it in such a fashion as he is considering, but that doesn't lessen its abilities.

Turning one hundred and eighty degrees in a flash, Yukie does what no one is expecting: he starts sprinting away. "That's right, ya crazy shadow thingies! Come n' git me, if ya can!"

~Flit winced in the darkness as he heard Yukie's proclamtion. Taunting them probably isn't the best thing to do... But there were two things that the deku had going for him. First of all, Yukie was fast, and second, Flit was starting to think up a plan.

He sheathed both daggers, and slipped his hand into a concealed pouch on his back, pulling out three throwing daggers, one held between each pair of fingers. He pulled out another three, and got ready to throw. Usually in such darkness, he wouldn't throw anything in fear of hitting Yukie, or missing completely, but now he knew exactly where Yukie was, because he was shouting out, and he was surrounded by an army of shadow creatures.

It was almost impossible to miss. He brought back both arms, and then pumped his wrists, sending all six projectiles cutting through the air towards the shadows. The whistling of the daggers gave the deku a certain satisfaction that was only multiplied by the shrieks of the unseen creatures in front of him. That should make things easier for him. He though, smiling in the dark.

Unfortunately, felling six of the monsters wasn't going to do much for Yukie, against two dozen of them. Red shadow claws, tore through the air at the deku's retreating back, the hideous laughter growing in volume.~

Yukie hears the whistling air and feels the sudden change in the air of the area as a familiar tingle runs up his back: incoming! The Deku dives forward, rolling beneath any and all of the creatures' claws before leaping up and taking off at a mad dash once again. As he rolls around, though, he once again launches out another Deku Nut at the ceiling. Once it explodes, Yukie quickly takes in the scene and maps out the room mentally . . . and then keeps running.

Dashing out of the room, Yukie leaves Flit and that mysterious guy behind. "Come on, suckas! Is that all ya got?!" he continues to taunt, trying to ensure that each of the strange creatures continues to follow him. Doubtless they won't simply forget about Flit, but as long as the majority choose to come after the elder Deku his plan should work marvelously. And as long as they aren't ghosts. They'd better not be ghosts.

As he charges through the stone corridor, every few seconds Yukie shoots out a Deku Nut at the wall next to him, turning his head away before the blinding flash is released, and uses it to make up for his lack of eyesight and Nature Sense. Upon spotting the branch off path that ought to lead him back to where they'd entered this underground region, Yukie leaps into it.

For any of the shadows still following him, they will round the corner to see the Deku having turned around with swords drawn. "Come and git me, weaklins," he says, just loud enough to be heard, as he awaits for some of them to actually follow his instructions.