Here Lizard, Lizard!

<---Index

The group looked to the sky and saw a hideous flying Lizard swooping down at them. Shadow drew the bow and fired an arrow at it. The projectile hit it in the wing and it let out a horrid screeching sound. It gained height so as not to get his a second time. Mido looked at him and asked, “Where did you get THAT?” Shadow shrugged. “Took it from the other Link.”
“There's TWO of you?” Bargo muttered in surprise. Shadow nodded. “Yeah. You got a problem with that?” Without an answer, the four warriors looked at the skies, waiting for the creature to strike again.

Seeing it in the fog, Shadow fired another arrow. This time the shot was wide and missed the enemy. Drawing his sword, he said, “Not good. That was the last arrow.” Mido turned to him and snapped, “You brought a bow with only TWO ARROWS?!?” The dark elf shrugged. “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” The group kept an eye to the skies. The creature wasn't likely to be scared off by that small assault. Once it learned that the arrows were depleted, it would strike again, seeking restitution.

Liara gazed at the mist and said, “It's circling overhead. Looks like it's waiting for something.” Shadow could never understand how she could see through the darkness like she did. Shadow looked around, going, “Here, lizard, lizard...” The sound that came didn't inspire a lot of hope. Now it sounded like there were more of the creature. Mido said uneasily, “I hope that's just an echo...” Bargo shook his head. “No, that would be more Banshees.” The creature swooped down from the skies and snatched Shadow in it's taloned feet, carrying him high into the air.

In a panic, he took his blade and stabbed the creature's leg. With a loud screech, it dropped him, only to be grabbed by another. This time a little more collected with his actions, he stabbed again, this time aiming for it's belly. Green blood sprayed from it's wound as it fell to the ground, landing all over the warrior's chest and shield arm. He roared in pain as the blood seared his flesh as he and the creature crashed into the ground.

Mido yelled, “Link! Are you alright?” Shadow rolled on the ground in agony. Bargo yelled, “He got the creature's blood on him! Liara! Tend to his injuries! Mido and I will keep them busy!” The female dark elf ran over to him and said, “Here. Drink this, fast! The blood is both acidic and poisonous!” She poured a dark purple potion into the warrior's mouth. Due to the pain, he spat the liquid out as he cried in tears and pain. She poured more of the potion into his mouth and kept it closed with her hand, forcing him to drink the potion.

“Drink all of it, Link! I don't want you seeing my daughter again just yet!” She continued the aggressive treatment until he had consumed all of the liquid. Noticing an item on his side, she took it and yelled, “Look what Link has! It's clumsy in design, but this grappling hook might be useful!” Mido took the item and smiled. “Good. Now I just have to snare one of them. If I can, then they're all yours, Bargo!” The Burly Kokiri smiled. “It's no weapon, but I can work with it.”

Mido started spinning the hook and kept an eye to the skies. “How's Link holding up?” Liara yelled back, “Not so good! He's in a lot of pain, and it doesn't look like the potion is taking! It doesn't make sense, either. The only way it won't work is if there's fire nearby!” Mido stood there and said, “Then we need to find some Cucoo berry seed, or he's a goner!” Bargo said, “That can't be found this far out of the center of the swamp! We'll have to use fire!”

Liara looked for something she could use to burn the warrior while Bargo and Mido prepared to engage creatures. Finally, one of the banshees swooped down and Mido tossed the grappling hook at it. The item snagged onto the creature's horned head and it took to the air. Bargo grabbed the rope and started climbing. He managed to get onto the creature's back and it started screeching and thrashing to shake him off. Drawing his mighty broadsword, he raised it above his head ans slashed down at the creature's wing, cleaving it from the rest of it's body.

As the creature fell to the ground, he leaped and landed on another pf the lizard monstrosities, repeating the process. As he reached the last one, he came down on it's back, but it moved at the last minute, causing him to miss completely. Tossing the hook, he snagged onto the creature and started climbing to it's head. Once on, the creature desperately tried to shake off it's unwanted passenger. In a roar of rage, Bargo yelled, “This is what you get when you mess with my daughter's friends!” with a mighty swing, he sliced the creature's head off, starting a downward descent to the distant ground.

As the concept of a painful and most likely lethal landing became more and more real, he tossed the hook and leaped off the creature's corpse. He hooked onto a tree and crash landed at a controlled descent into a pile of thorn-root shrubs. Mido yelled, “Hey, Bargo. Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you only kill one of these things instead of ALL of them?” He stopped for a moment, then as he pulled thorns from his body, replied, “Thought you might want a crack at one?” Liara looked at him and said, “We can't go near them! They're venomous!” Mido muttered, “What I wouldn't give for a fire right about now...”

Liara suddenly shouted, “Link! What are you doing?” The dark elf stood there weakly with a strange red crystal floating over his forehead. Looking at the clustered creatures, he said coldly, “This would be the part where you all get behind me.” Not about to argue anyone with such a cold tone, they moved to the rear of the warrior. He looked at the creatures and said, “You things can go to hell...” Smiling evilly, he hooked a finger in front of his mouth and said, “Here's you first step.” Taking a deep breath, he breathed out with every ounce of strength he could muster, consuming the creatures, the nearby trees and pretty much a thirty pace area in a fiery inferno.

He looked at the dying creatures, saying, “Hurry and grab some of that fire. I'm not going to die here. I have three important people waiting for me to kill a bug.” Looking at him stunned, Liara finally yelled, “Grab some of that fire before it burns out! We can use it to cauterize his injuries and kill the poison!” The trio began the process of burning the wounds to a healed state. After, Shadow weakly got to his feet and started to head deeper into the woods. Liara yelled, “Link! What are you doing? You need to rest!”

Shadow turned to the others and said, “We don't have time to rest at this point. We have no map, no compass and one wounded. We're going to be moving slow at this point, and the illness isn't going to leave my friends on it's own. If my other self has been able to push himself under these conditions for all of time, then I can do it to save my friends.” Tearing off his ruined tunic, he continued, “Ten minute rest, then we move out. No questions!” Smiling, Mido said, “About time you developed a leader's attitude. Ten minutes, no exceptions. Take your potion while you have the break Link, because we won't have time to do this for a while.”

The group sat and prepared to take off. Ten minutes. A short rest, that for some reason this time, took an eternity.