Shada led the other two out into the plains east of Ruto Town. After a little more conversation, Alpha had gotten the boy to tell him his name, Coby, and a few more things. For instance, Coby wasn’t even a Sheikah. He was only a Hylian, but for some reason the Hakiems kept him around and had trained him. Karunik had taken a special interest in him, but Zaboorak acted like he wanted Coby dead.

Finally they reached the passage that would lead into the Ruto Mountains. As the shadows lengthened behind the tall mountains, Alpha realized that his scar was beginning to glow. He looked up ahead and saw, standing at the base of the passage, none other than Karunik. “That’s far enough, liar,” the Hakiems’ leader shouted.

Alpha sighed, then pushed himself in front of the other two, who were both shocked at Karunik’s appearance. “Liar, huh? So you heard my conversation with the boy there, I suppose.”

Karunik nodded grimly. “I must admit, Keyru Varaudo, your story actually rocked my world for a second. For an instant, I actually believed you were serious,” he said with a loud laugh. “But unlike Coby, I have been hearing lies like that for seventeen years, ever since Zaris killed my father and I inherited leadership of the Hakiems tribe.” He looked at Coby. “Come, student. Your task here is done.”

Coby, very confused by all this, slowly walked over to stand behind Karunik. Alpha looked around, suspicious. “Only one Hakiems? A fair fight? Please,” he said sarcastically, “tell me why I have the feeling that you’re trying your hand at deception now, Karunik.”

“Allow me, fool,” came the surly voice from above them. Alpha and Shada looked up to see a sphere of water floating above them. Within it was none other than Zaboorak, the dark Zora who had been controlling the Hakiems tribe for years now. “Becaussse I am in charge, not Karunik. And unlike him, I do not do take risssksss.” The sphere slowly floated down to a rock protruding from the mountainside, then the water washed away into a flask at Zaboorak’s side. ‘The ability to psychically control water and make it float in midair…and then swimming inside it. Clever way to allow a Zora to fly,’ Alpha thought.

“Um, Alpha, might want to pay attention,” Shada said, nervously. Alpha took a glance around the area and saw what she meant: all around them, hundreds of Sheikah were dropping their Shadowmeld, all of whom wore the Hakiems’ symbol on their chests.
Coby looked on in awe at the show of force. Surrounding the two Sheikah were tens of thousands of members of the Hakiems tribe. A single sound, a loud clanging noise, erupted over the plain as they all simultaneously drew their gilded swords. Alpha and Shada got back to back in the small five yards that existed between them and the Hakiems. Zaboorak yelled at them. “Ssso, where isss the Golden Sssheikah? Tell usss, and we won’t have do anything…drassstic,” he hissed in delight at the last word.

In response, Alpha fired off his Elemental Explosion.

The explosion ripped over thirty of the Hakiems to shreds, and fire erupted forth from it. ‘Aw, man…I was hoping for light. But I guess the fire element is the next best thing…’

“What are you doing?” Shada whispered. “You just killed some of them! Now they’ll all come after you!”

Alpha nodded. “Leaving you open to go up the mountain and get our allies,” he whispered back. As a grin rose to his face, he said, “I’m used to overwhelming odds. Go.” With that, he leapt upwards and landed in the midst of the evil Sheikah, snapping off several hits with his staff as he rose back up. The Hakiems charged forward and leapt above him, he fired off another Explosion, this time getting the element of water.



Shada finally emerges from the group and runs towards the passage into the mountains. ‘I have to find the others…then get Master!’

“And you are going where?” comes a voice from above her. She looks up to see Karunik complete his flip, landing in between her and the pass. “Allow me to answer that,” he says as he draws his own blade. “Nowhere fast.”

Zaboorak watches over the entire battlefield, smiling malevolently. ‘Everything goesss asss expected. Sssoon that fool Zzzarisss will appear, and then he will die. And I will finally gain accesss to hisss power…’ He lets off an amused hiss, scaring Coby, who is hiding behind a few boulders nearby.

Alpha spots Shada squaring off against Karunik and frowns inwardly. ‘She can’t get the others…I hope they hear the explosions!’ He fires off another blast as a group of Hakiems charges him. “Yes! Finally got light!” But his mood darkens again as he realizes that he has yet to put a dent into the number of warriors he is facing…

Faintly at first, like the sound of a muffled avalanche, a distant rumbling seeps in from the north. Then--gradually--a second sound, like that of someone jamming a steel blade into a running blender comes to your ears. Finally, the rising clamor is laced with the blare of pure musical dissonance, like every note of a scale being played at once. The intensity of the roar wavers for a moment, then...

KRRAAKKKKSH! To the north, the mountain wall erupts, raining silt and shrapnel on the battlefield below. In the area of the explosion, several yards up the rock-face, there remains a distinctly Arco-shaped hole. The musical cacophany seems to sail overhead through the air and gradually diminish to nothingness, when all of the sudden a member of the Hakiems, on the inner ring of the mass surrounding Alpha, howls and grabs at his throat. Hands covered in blood, he falls.

There is the thump and a dust cloud indicating a rough landing, out of which Arco unmelds all at once. Crouched over with one knee on the ground, he appears a staff's length away from Alpha. As he stands, he brings his bloodied knife down in front of his hip and gives it a rough shake.

"Hope your scar's doing alright," he says solemnly, before adding with uncharacteristic humor, "Just watch where you swing that staff--and send those 'Light's'." Independent from his eyes, which seem to ebb into an almost inky grey with sanguinary battlereadiness, he bares his teeth in a grin, left hand open and held out in front of his face. His other hand, silently maneuvering the dagger, remains low.

OOC: My word! Almost forgot how much fun it is to write in battle contexts (first time in HA2). Looking forward to seeing how this unfolds. I do have one question though--how "powerful" (or skilled, etc) are we in relation to the Hakiems? It looks like Alpha's plowing scores of them per blast ('course he's a battle-mage), but I wasn't sure what the ratio was, so to speak. One of us fights like one of them? A dozen of them? Twenty? (Does a character's level mean anything here?) And should we just jump in and start cutting (the) Hakiems to pieces (free to use role-play however we can dream it up)? Thanks very much, I just want to keep you in control of the story here.

Alpha would have grinned at the sight of Arco had he not been ducking underneath seven blades coming from three directions. 'Good grief, it's almost as if these guys are amateurs...or maybe...' It was then that he caught sight of the red handkerchiefs each Hakiems member was wearing on their left shoulder. 'Red handkerchief. The symbol of a recent joiner. They don't even take me serious! The Hakiems are using this as an initiation test!'

Annoyed, Alpha swings out the legs of several members of the Hakiems with his staff, then jumps back to stand along side of Arco. Batting a few more blades out of the air, he hears Arco comment about his scar. Shock rides freely on his face, so much so that he almost fails to dodge the next sword. 'My scar...it hasn't done anything at all so far! It's possible that they wouldn't trigger it, but Zaboorak certainly would! How is this possible?' Suddenly his thoughts go back to the wishing well...

The magical properties of thine scar are quite powerful. They can only be ceased by using the Might of Gold.

'It's not possible for it to be here in its entirety...but maybe one or more of its factors are nearby...' He grins at the thought. "Don't worry about me, Arco. Master's watching over us right now." He leaps high into the air and holds his hands out in front of him, forming a molten-red orb in his hands - another Fire Elemental Explosion. In the midst of battle, it is sometimes easy to get caught up in the attack, so much so that Alpha isn't even conscious of the fact that he's using the spell. But high in the sky, away from those swords, he is able to truly appreciate the warmth that shrouds his attack and the beautiful colors that dwarf the dangerous energies held within. He wills the sphere away from him, and it dives like a bomb at the Hakiems, obliterating another cluster of the densely packed Sheikah. Flames rip outward from the newly formed crater, but even with the steam still rising from it more Hakiems rush in to fill it up.


OOC: Treat them like you can kill them with ease, but keep this in mind: no matter how many you kill, more will just come to take their place. I have the ending written out; until we're ready for that just keep fighting. Also, remember that your character will eventually be getting tired...

Many crashes, booms and other loud enter Grenada's ears coming from the desert, though they are quite faint. He is immediately alert and hopes it's not something bad. He knows he needs to get there fast though, and lets out a shrill whistle that quite possibly could have been heard by the Hakiems, but the Deku didn't care. Shortly thereafter, the respondant "HURR" lets him rest easy. In no more than a few seconds, the owl can be seen rushing in from the forest, with great speed. Almost telepathically, the bird flies in at the right angle to get to the desert as soon as possible. Grenada jumps at the owls side, and clinging on, he rights himself quickly and heads off to the battle.

When he arrives moments later, he sees Alpha stuck in combat with many red hankered foes. He draws his sword and without thinking, he uses the bird as a steed, charging; mowing through packs of the foes. But for everyone he defeats is a replacement, and Grenada quickly abandons that strategy. Making a quick turn he heads back toward Alpha, and jumping off, he lets the owl soar high into the sky. When he lands, his feet slide, having no traction, and he recovers from his three-point stance by slashing through a couple more Hakiems.

"Hey Alpha, what happened? I heard explosions!"

Azador is watching from a distance, how amusing seeing this little puppet fight. Thanks to Azador's power to feel where evil is fighting, i can finaly see some action shows. I think the Hakiem tribe will win, and if they don't i will help them a little.

"They figured out our ambush and made one of their own!' Alpha replies to Grenada's question. He ducks underneath another blade and comes up with a punch that knocks the Hakiem he is fighting back, taking down two more behind him. More trample over their fallen comrades, trying to get a chance to take on the caped Sheikah. Though he really doesn't have time to start thinking about it, this is really starting to annoy him!

Shada leaps back to avoid another one of Karunik's slices, landing firmly on her feet. She still hasn't drawn her weapons, but if Karunik is frustrated he doesn't show it. His face remains one of great confidence, and he slices horizontally at her once again. And once again, she easily dodges the attack, leaping up to land on a boulder sticking out of the ground. "You must be able to do better than that," she taunts.

Karunik simply smiles back at her. "As you wish, young girl. If that is to be your last request, then so be it." He calmly reaches underneath his robe and withdraws another sword. Shada's eyes grow slightly wider, but she stands firm. Karunik leaps forward, swinging his first sword in front followed immediately by the second. Shada leaps over one, then withdraws a small dagger from her side, which she uses to keep the second blade at bay. Karunik completes his swings, however, as if his blades have met no resistance, and Shada is thrown backwards. She silently reminds herself of what this man had done to Alpha in the alleyway by the North Castle, and brings out a second dagger to help shield herself.

"Master" is watching over us?

Cranking his dagger-arm down and back, Arco springs up and meets the attacking Hakiems in mid-air. His hand jabs up and back down in wild, forceful thrusts, like a conductor in front of an orchestra on fire. One in the neck, one in the chest, a third in the stomach, upwards... the Sheikah smiles grimly as he flashes in and out of shadowmeld between stabs.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Hmm.

Even as the three bodies hit the ground, Arco barrels downwards and cuts through another, landing with knee, shin, and hand on the ground in mid-slit. Thrashing upwards from that position in a messy overhead slash, Arco's dull eyes track the path of Grenada's owl, flying overhead. The sight of the mercenary cutting a path through the unlucky enemies causes Arco to laugh silently, in an almost demented way.

That is, until he finds himself automatically spinning on both heels to see what his dagger had already accomplished, one step ahead of his mind: a headless Hakiem. Stepping back to circle around another hastily thrusted sword, Arco finds himself licking a cut that he must have received earlier, somehow... when all at once, his eyes narrow. As if awakened by the blood, he leaps into the air, nearly horizontally, and guillotines himself through the Hakiems at neck height. Cloak billowing behind him, he lands low, with both knees bent.

At which point both he and the dagger--as a single, shadomelded being--vanish.

Hmm these guys are stronger than i thought, time to help to Hakiem tribe. POWER OF THE ANCIENTS Azador aims with his staff to the Hakiems, and a red force field apears around them. This spell will boost ther strenght up, lets see if they can win now.

Alpha watches as the crimson cloud descends over the battlefield. For a mere moment, all fighting ceases as both sides wonder what this strange field is meant to do. Karunik and Shada stop their own fight, gazing at where the majority of the fight has taken place. Even Zaboorak's jaw stands slightly ajar as he looks around for the source of the madness. 'What could have causssed thisss?' he wonders.

As they look around the arena, the Hakiems suddenly begin to feel a new strength flowing down towards them from the force field. A new battle cry sweeps over the field as they realize that this force will help them, and they surge towards Alpha, Arco, and Grenada.


"Oh no you don't."


Without warning, a bright gold beam shoots down from the sky, obliterating the field and over two thousand of the Hakiems warriors. All of them stop in their tracks, suddenly afraid as they find that their new power source is gone. Alpha becomes even more alert than before, searching the sky for any sign of the one who had used that ray. But no one ever appears. Then Alpha can no longer afford to look, as the Hakiems once again begin their attack, and Alpha returns to his massacre.

Similarly, Karunik and Shada once again begin their brawl. Shada leaps away from Karunik's sword, surprised to see that, while they were distracted, he had returned to using a single blade. Karunik gives her a sinister smile, then holds up his left hand. Shada gasps, for within his hand is a glowing red orb. "Now then, let's see what that spell would have done!" he yells. He throws the orb at his feet, and shivers in delight as it flows upward, engulfing him in red steam. He swings his sword at her, and she leaps upward as the shockwave from the attack smashes into the mountain wall behind her, shattering it.

Meanwhile, Zaboorak smiles slightly at the sight of the beam. 'The fool hasss finally arrived; good. Now once he ssstopsss hiding, I can finally obtain the Golden Power of the Sssheikah...' Since, no one appears in the sky, the Zora silently continues with his previous scan. Finally he spots a person on the outskirts of the fight. 'A mage of sssome sssort...hmmm, doesssn't appear to be Sssheikah, but perhapsss he isss sssomeone that I can make ussse of. Good puppetsss are ssso hard to find thessse daysss...' He silently steps into the shadows and releases his water orb where no one can see it, save Coby. He floats over to where Azador stands, then drops down in front of the Hylian. "Hello there, young one. Might I asssk asss to why you jussst helped my Hakiemsss?"

Azador eyes turned red. Its an honour to meed you, Zaboorak is it. I heard about you, i really like to see evil win thats wy i boosted your Hakiems up, its a time a go since i saw such a battle. Long ago i used to be much stronger but now i am sealed in this weak body.... If you need my help you can just ask, that fool Alpha still thinks that I am good guy.

'Sssomeone willing to ssserve the darknesss, but who isss believed to be an ally of good...excellent.' He gives another smile, eyes glowing with pure evil. "We ssshall have to...dissscusss the posssibility of your asssissstance sssometime. At the moment I am busssy, but fear not; I ssshall be most happy to take you up on your offer." He looks back at where the battle rages. "For now, however, I believe you have done more than I would have expected. Your ssspell might have failed for the mossst part, but my sssubordinate hasss apparently been paying attention to my lesssonsss on the magical artsss." He watches as Shada is forced to continue dodging, only now every time she is taking damage. Karunik's red cloud continues to float about him, granting him great power. 'Now he could posssibly challenge me...I ssshall have to ensssure that thisss power isss only temporary.'

"I sssuggessst that you leave before your sssecret is exposssed," he continues. "But I look forward to working with you in the future." The Zora returns to his water orb, and slowly floats back into the sky. He stops, however, as a new thought occurs to him. "Ssshould you ever wisssh to contact me," he says, pulling a small trinket from beneath his robe, "ussse this." He throws down a flute to Azador, then turns back to the battlefield and returns to his original post. He lets off a small chuckle, but frowns as the bodies of the Hakiems continue to pile up. And still Zaris makes no appearance.

Azador picks up the flute, it seems to be that i found a ally, this flute could come handy for someday. In smoke Azador disapears, and a evil laugh could be heard across the mountain

'It will take you to any town you desire.' Raven mocks what Red had said to him. He didn't say it would make him land on the side of a wet roof and then almost slide onto the ground below. Fortunately he was able to leap off the roof and into a nearby tree which he then climbed down.

He soon found the battle grounds it was hard to miss such a large number on the otherwise barren land of the highlands. Being on the outside of the mass he found he wasn't noticed as he walked up behind one of the Hakiems tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned round he said: 'You sully the name of the Sheikah.' and stabbed him in the neck.

Noticing that one of their members had fallen, a group soon surrounded Raven all their swords aimed at him. 'Hey, lets make this fair.' Raven said and picked up stone off the ground. 'When this stone hits the ground we will all attack.' He explained. 'Keep your eye on the stone.' he said and he threw it high into the air. As the Hakiems watched the stone there was a slight breeze went past them and when the stone fell to the ground so did the Hakiems each with their throats cut.

'Fools.' Raven said and shook the blood off his knife.

Arco's meld with the color of the dusty ground wavers in surprise as the red glow washes over the army, only to find himself soon ducking the wild swings of the quicker-thinking Hakiems who had found the aura to their advantage. He then grunts, and shuts his eyes.

Crrunchzzlle...

Even as the golden beam strikes the earth, Arco's form disappears completely, leaving in its stead a man-sized cone of soil and rock. For a moment there is silence. Then, a spray of gravel accents a sudden onset of a loud, underground churning noise. Almost immediately, a squad of Hakiems is alarmed to find that a line of soil is being upturned towards them in a streak that shoots pebbles into the air. The underground tunneling leaves a wake of harrowed dirt, careening through a rapidly scattering Hakiem group.

A larger Hakiem flares out of Shadowmeld and thrusts his sword down, hard, at the head of the trail, which stops the burrowing--stops Arco. Silence.

Then a crash, and a short blast of what sounds like power chords, as something moves up out of the ground, into the air. The Hakiem vanishes into his meld to match his opponent and leaps upwards. There is a brief clank, a distinctly organic sound, and then a thud, as both Sheikah unmeld at the same time. One lies dead, slashed through the chest. Arco, spinning around, drives his knife towards a mass of Hakiems, spearing it forward as if it were a lance. And oddly enough, the onslaught manages to send an entire group of Hakiems flying. Standing with his weight heavily on his front foot, the Goron-raised-Sheikah holds his dagger pointed straight forward, but his hand looks as if it were gloved in a gigantic... shadow. But in between blinks of an eye, you wonder if you were just seeing things; Arco's hand is completely normal. The marked battle-demeanor of the usually-bland Bard is the only thing different.

That is, until he pivots on the ball of one foot, grips his dagger tighter in his right hand, and launches it--his entire arm--forward. With whatever sixth sense you an manage, the hand looks as if it is melding itself into a stronger, harder fist, which envelops the dagger to the point where the blade seems more like a nail sticking out of a moblin's club than a dagger held by a hand. And with that hand forward, the rest of Arco follows the lead, leaving behind a line of Hakiems, fallen and mangled. The wounds show evidence of what looks like a very large claw's impact, having dug through the bodies as if without regard to what lay in between it and its destination.

A few corpse-lengths away from where Alpha fights, toppling forests of Hakiems, Arco stops, clearing his throat. Sweating, he does his best to speak loudly.

"What was that light thing?"

OOC: Argh, tell me when I'm overdoing it. ><

Alpha swings his staff with such speed that it might as well be a sword itself, plowing down Hakiem after Hakiem. He looks over to see Arco's wet face, and realizes that the battle is also beginning to wear him down slightly. Shada had been very accurate with her discription of the Hakiems' battle strategy: overwhelm the enemy with numbers.

Alpha glances in Arco's direction as he hears the Sheikah voice his question. A small sound comes from him, slowly gaining in strength until it is heard even over the battle: laughter. Alpha smiles at his friend. "That was Master Zaris' power. Told you he was watching over us!" More and more Hakiems, slightly confused by what could be so funny, fall to Alpha's staff.


Shada, on the other hand, isn't doing nearly as well. The red energy continues to swirl around Karunik. His blades are a blood-red color, both from the magic and from the blood he has taken from Shada. Even when she manages to dodge one attack, his second sword comes forth and strikes her down. All attempts at blocking are futile; Karunik's strength is too great now.

With a booming laugh, Karunik brings his sword down at Shada's head. She attempts another block, knowing full well that it's worthless. The blow slides slightly to the right of her sword before its force causes Shada's dagger to crack, and then it shatters to pieces! The sword continues its quick descent, slicing into Shada's shoulder. With a scream of anguish, she tumbles to the ground and instantly faints from shock.

Karunik lets out another laugh, then turns to where the rest of the battle has unfolded. Glaring down, he realizes that the Hakiems have lost nearly a quarter of their original force, with no casualties to the enemy. Without even asking for Zaboorak's permission, he leaps into the battlefield, landing in the center, where Arco and Alpha currently stand. "Hakiems! Stand down!" he yells. The Hakiems tribe all turn to face him, salute, and then sheathe their weapons. They then squat down on the ground, allowing Karunik to see just how many people they were facing. "Four. Four people. A fourth of my allies killed by four people!" He gives off a loud war cry, then rushes at Alpha, drawing both swords and swinging them at lightning fast speed.

Alpha leaps into the air, avoiding the blades and letting the kneeling Hakiems take the shockwaves. But Karunik quickly recovers, sending several attacks upward and slicing into Alpha. He falls to the ground, but slowly manages to crawl back to his feet. "This is not good."