Darkin lead the group into the passageway, bringing about another light spell with the snap of his fingers. As they walked, the air grew a tad colder, which was a welcome sensation. The Rito shifted his eyes down towards Katsuro, who seemed to be struggling with the thought of his own limitations.

This isn't good... I wish Kasei hadn't put it like that. They crossed swords after all. To see the boy's potential and then say that kind of thing to him. He'll end up down the same path as his father if this keeps up.

He turned his eyes forward once more, running his hand along the cavern wall as they walked. "You know, Katsuro, your shadowmeld ability will come in handy here. We're very fortunate to have y-"

"Shut up, Darkin." He interrupted, his voice cold.

Darkin's face sagged. Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems.

Katsuro turned his head towards the aven mage. "Stop worrying. Stop trying to cheer me up. I'm alright with having human limitations. I'm not my dad. So just stop."

There were few times in Darkin's life where he was truly taken aback, and this was one of them. He... Did he know? How did... This kid... He's already figured it out somehow. Darkin smiled warmly. He's been thinking hard about this situation. It appears as though he's already drawn some conclusions as well. How about that!

"Alright, Katsuro. I'm more than relieved to hear that. Now let's find your dad, alright?" The boy smiled, and turned his eyes forward again.

The passageway continued on a little further, until suddenly, the cave widened to the right. The cavern was now about three times the size of what it was, about the size of a tennis court in width. The air was even chillier now, and the group suddenly felt smaller. Darkin gulped silently, attempting to hide his fear from Silva. It wasn't often or ever that a woman was drawn to him without a charm spell. He secretly didn't want to mess this up.

Katsuro stretched his arms out. "Well, this is a nice change of pace. I was starting to feel cramped back there!" He jogged ahead a little bit, and yelled out, "ECHO!" His voice bounced off the walls, echoing several times before fading away. Then, just as it faded, it rang out again. Louder, louder, and then louder still until it sounded as if he'd just yelled it. The boy turned around to face the rest of the group, completely bewildered by the phenomenon.

"Did you guys hear that!? Weird huh?" He looked at Darkin, who seemed to be staring past him. "Hello? Darkin?" He watched as the Rito's eyes focused, and then widened. "Darkin, you know it creeps me out when your bird eyes do that, stop it!" Darkin lifted his arm, pointing past the boy.

Katsuro turned around to see a figure emerging from the darkness. The boy quickly drew his sword, light emanating from the enchanted blade, enough light to further illuminate the approaching silhouette. Katsuro gasped loudly, and took a step back.

He was looking at what appeared to be his exact twin stepping out of the darkness. "UMM. DARKIN." He stated urgently as he continued to step back. The doppelganger continued to advance with slow but heavy steps. The impostor's eyes were jet black, devoid of anything else, much akin to a Zora's, but without the gleam.

"Katsuro, get away from it!" Darkin cried out as he let lightning begin to crackle in his hands.

Suddenly however, out of the darkness not too far in the cave, there was the crackle of lightning, which provided a wavering light that lit the other side of the cave. Darkin stared in awe as he observed the other side of the cave. Much like Katsuro, there was an alternate Darkin, his eyes black as the cave around him, with lightning buzzing in his hands. The light from his crackling spell illuminated a doppleganger of both Silva and Nogare standing next to him.

Katsuro hopped back to the group as the gang of body-doubles emerged from the shadows and stood in their way. Darkin glanced at Nogare and Silva, then to Katsuro, who was also exchanging nervous glances with the rest of them.

"Darkin... What do we do? It doesn't look like they're going to let us pass..." He looked back into the lifeless eyes of his counterpart.

Darkin evaluated the situation, and took a deep breath. "It would appear that this is the trial for taking this path. I don't see another way around this." Before he could finish speaking however, the other Katsuro drew his sword, an exact copy of the Phantom Blade. The body-double then jerked forward, Katsuro parrying the blade, and hopping away. The opponent quickly swiveled around, and gave chase to the boy, the two already locked in combat.

"Everyone, go engage your respective counterparts! It's likely that they'll be using your own moves against you, which means they're less likely to surprise you! Be weary, that's only a theory I've assessed with little to no knowledge of the situation! Be careful everyone, let's go!" He let his lighting spell fly towards the other Rito, the counterpart letting his own spell fly in tandem. The two spells collided, creating an explosion that rocked the cavern.

Through the smoke, the two of them flung forward, locking hands with one other.

The fight was on.

During the walk down the tunnel, Silva seemed to almost stick to Darkin, yet one paying attention could easily see that she was focusing on Katsuro more than anything, observing him with some kind of serene interest. And as the cavern widened and grew colder, she seemed either unaffected by the new chill or simply payed it no heed despite her outfit.

And then.

The Darkness wrote:"Echo...

Echo...

ECHO!"

At this, the Gerudo snapped to attention, releasing her hold on the Rito as she stepped forward, eyes scanning the tunnels, before noticing a doppelganger of Katsuro stepping out of the shadows. "Hmmm..."

Silva readied her pole-arm as she spied a clone of herself being revealed, alongside Nogare and Darkin. As she prepared, the Katsuro-double lurched forward with an attack, forcing the original on the defensive.

Dumby Mcbeakboy wrote:"Everyone, go engage your respective counterparts! It's likely that they'll be using your own moves against you, which means they're less likely to surprise you! Be weary, that's only a theory I've assessed with little to no knowledge of the situation! Be careful everyone, let's go!"

At this, Silva glanced over at Darkin before taking a few steps back and giggling, before planting her primary weapon in the ground, holding her hands up.

And before anyone else could know what was going on, the cavern was alight with a blazing inferno, scorching away at the walls and seemingly burning away the very air. The flames crackled with a life all their own, engulfing all of the clones in a hellfire. They burned for some time, before fading away moments later, almost as spontaneously as they appeared.

The Gerudo looked over to the true Darkin. "Yeah, I've done this song and dance before, sweetie, and that whole 'take on your own clone' thing always just causes the fight to drag on." She said with a giggle, before turning her attention back to the enemy.

Predictably, the Silva-clone was unharmed by the inferno, gripping her spear and swiftly closing the distance between herself and her caste. The original had little time to observe what her attack had accomplished before being forced to defend herself with her own weapon. "Umm..and on that note, any help over here would be greatly appreciated, darling~" She sang over to Darkin.

The clones were reduced to dust. Nothing left but a swirl of dark energy that twirled and danced over the ashes before fading away.

Darkin lowered his arms, somewhat surprised at the outburst. He turned to Silva- he wanted to yell at her, but he kept his cool.

"Silva, I could have done that. For one, I don't know how stable this cavern is. Secondly, we're trying to keep a low profile, remember? If Ganon catches a whiff of strong magic, he'll zero in on us for sure. We can't afford to run into any more opposition." He sighed. "Just... Just be careful, alright?" He looked at Katsuro, who had fallen backwards on his hands.

He stared at the ashes as they blew away.

He gritted his teeth, and tightened his grip on the earth below him. He closed his eyes and turned his head, clearly furious with his own inadequacy.

Darkin's eyes remained on the boy as he scoured for the right words to say to him. This... This is bad. This is what I saw in Dogura... He turned and looked at Silva almost accusingly. "Be careful." He repeated, this time moving his eyes over towards Katsuro as he spoke. The boy turned over on his knees, stood up, and brushed himself off.

"Stop worrying. Stop trying to cheer me up. I'm alright with having human limitations. I'm not my dad. So just stop."

Darkin reflected on those words, hoping they were truthful.

Darkin looked around the cave, "Well, it appears all the clones were swallowed up in that. I suppose we should move forward."

There was a flickering light at the end of the tunnel. "Shall we?" He asked as they moved forward.

OOC: Another big fight that I'd hoped we could all just write awesome battle scenes for our characters, but a big fireball will do it too. I suppose nothing can stand in the way of your character at this level.

That is unless or until we find him.

Which may or may not be sooner than later.

Also, Nogare, we're leaving you behind for now. Sorry.

As the clone closed the gap between itself and the original, something seemed to give out, and it cracked apart, turning to ash like it's companions. "Oooh, sweetie it looks like these weren't made to last." She cooed over to Darkin.

Pidgeon wrote:

"Silva, I could have done that. For one, I don't know how stable this cavern is. Secondly, we're trying to keep a low profile, remember? If Ganon catches a whiff of strong magic, he'll zero in on us for sure. We can't afford to run into any more opposition." He sighed. "Just... Just be careful, alright?"

Silva turned to the Rito with a wry smile. "Sorry, dear, but I doubt this cavern is going to give out on us any time soon...and I'm pretty sure Ganondorf already knows we're here." She said, as she tugged down the collar of her shirt, revealing much of her ample busom, and the gem that lies there. "You don't carry around something like this without everyone knowing about it, I'm afraid."

As Darkin emphasized the effect that Silva was having on Katsuro, the Gerudo smiled again, a gently, warm smile, but one that seemed to be hiding something.

Nevertheless, as Darkin pointed out the light at the end of the tunnel, Silva turned and followed his lead out.


OOC: Is he a ducking Darknut? Because I ducking hate Darknuts.