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Tryout Fic 11: VillageLink’s lithe elvin body hit the earth with a resounding crash. Mud and sweat inundated his senses, almost overcoming the bloc of pulsing red in his consciousness, the core of that stimulus known as pain. I’ve failed them all, he thought despairingly, I’ve even failed… Zelda. Breathing shallowly beside Link’s battered body was a young man with spiky blonde hair. He knelt on the ground using a massive sword to support his sagging strength. Cloud Strife, his broken thought process continued, …hero…my greatest…adversary. His face in the dirt, the Hylian tried to collect his scattered thoughts, but most of all sought to evade the terrible, terrible pain that was wracking his shattered body. But…he is … almost in as bad…shape… as I am, Link thought numbly. Latching onto this thought like a lifeline, the Hylian attempted to move his lacerated arms and legs. He might as well have been trying to trudge through jelly with iron boots and armlets. Roaring with renewed fervor, the crowd was astonishingly loud as Link managed to get on his hands and knees. Cloud looked over at his opponent, astonishment and weariness reflected in his dirtied face. Suddenly, however, the world was… distorted… and Link found himself back facedown in the mud. I…cannot try again, he thought frantically,the pain is... too great. As the world gradually faded into blackness, the Hero of Time relegated himself a coward and a failure. However, fate dealt him an even crueler blow, for as he drifted into unconsciousness his mind was haunted by the sight of Zelda’s surreal visage contorted in grief and pity. I’ve fallen so far… --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link awoke with a crack of thunder in the distance. Bathed in a sheen of cold sweat, the Hylian swatted away his bed sheets and crept silently out of his shared bedroom, hoping to elude the notice of his roommate. As he stepped into the vacant hallway, Link was struck by the irony of the rain hammering uselessly against the windows. In a way, the rain’s pointless struggle mirrored Link’s own hopes of banishing his personal demon, the haunting image of his great failure last year. Will I never be free from my… weakness, he thought anxiously as he stared out on the horizon, will I suffer my greatest defeat night after night until my very death? It was a decidedly morbid thought but the Hylian lacked the hope to care about such self-destructive words. “Still suffering from nightmares, my friend?” Crono said nonchalantly, “I’d thought you were over this by now. You are far too hard on yourself, elven boy.” Link turned about to look at his friend. Silly pajamas with frogs dancing about coupled with the ever-present sword buckled to his waist made Crono laughable. Except that the Hylian didn’t feel like laughing. He did not think he would ever laugh again. Crono’s cavalier attitude swiftly faded into worry, “Are you ok? You look terrible!” Link dimly gazed at his haggard reflection in the window. His eyes were red and irritated, his face shadowed. I look almost as misshapen as a wizzrobe, he thought sardonically. “You do know it is 4:00 AM?” Crono muttered sleepily, “You should get some rest. Trust me, you need it.” Link closed his eyes, trying to summon up the will to speak. “I will never rest,” he said forcibly, almost painfully, “I cannot rest until I redeem myself. I must defeat Cloud Strife, or I shall witness my defeat in my dreams until the very day that I die.” Protoman vs ZeroSometimes our greatest friends could prove to be our most tenacious enemies, mused Zero. The reploid had hoped he’d square off against some non-entity, someone he didn’t even know, making his battle one of dispassionate skill rather than emblazoned emotion. Although he had no doubt he’d be able to defeat Protoman, Zero still felt slightly irritated that one of his best friends would be eliminated by him. The impersonality of the contest, inevitably pitting friend against friend, seemed a cruel and cold process. “All contestants must proceed to the battle arena,” intoned a robotic feminine voice, breaking Zero’s reverie, “All contestants must proceed to the battle arena.” Sighing one last time at the quixotic nature of his current situation, Zero snatched his Z-Saber and ran into the arena to thunderous applause. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zero glanced quickly at Protoman, and wasn’t surprised by the least at the calm, swaggering stance his opponent, his friend, had assumed. He’d better be able to fight as well as he says, Zero thought in amused silence, otherwise this battle won’t last long. “Contestants Zero and Protoman, stand ready,” came a judge’s voice from the loudspeaker, “The match will begin in five….four…three…two…one!” At the last number of the countdown, Protoman had given the most minuscule of nods to Zero, now he leapt into action shooting with reckless abandon. He can’t be hoping to get me this way, Zero thought in wonder. Clasping his Z-Saber, Zero charged at his friend, but as always Protoman proved adept at running and jumping quickly away. Lightning flared in the distance, yet another thing for Zero to worry about. His attention was brought quickly back to his battle when Protoman leapt sideways in the air shooting rapidly. The reploid quickly surmised that he would not be able to evade the blasts this time, so he carefully grasped his Z-Saber, waiting for the exact moment to strike. Now!, he thought, bringing his saber in contact with the energy blast. Protoman watched helplessly as his own beam shot came rocketing toward him, ripping up the terrain beneath it as the blast gathered immense speed. With a shattering crack, Protoman was flung a dozen feet backwards. Zero smiled savagely, his emotions mixed between the thrill of the fight and the reluctance of hurting his friend. Pushing such matters away, the reploid withdrew his saber and dashed off to finish Protoman. His opponent, however, was ready. Although smoking in several places, Protoman’s only testimony to the power of Zero’s previous counter-attack was Protoman’s shield, shattered into thousands of tiny fragments. His enemy made a cocky salute before clipping him in the side with a charged blast. The pain was excruciating as part of Zero’s robotic body was destroyed, but Zero had long ago mastered his pain. Stepping quickly beside his opponent, Zero brought his saber up in a vertical slash with terrifying speed. Protoman was shocked as he watched his left arm explode into fragments, his mouth open in both astonishment and pain. Zero feeling a cruel sense of irony, copied his enemy’s previous salute before sweeping Protoman’s legs out from under him. Zero cautiously stepped on his opponent’s legs as he lowered the end of his Z-Saber to just under Protoman’s jaw. “Well, old friend,” Zero muttered wearily, “This farce is over. Yield!” Protoman’s response was both cryptic and alarming. His blank face was contorted to merest of smirks as he whistled loudly some tune Zero had never heard before. Zero had only a moment’s warning before something careened into him, knocking him to the ground. Dazed, Zero turned and saw that his friend had summoned some kind of robotic bird, one that was turning about to come at him again. This time, Zero stood ready, his saber held before him. However, just before the bird came within reach, a blast from his back knocked him off balance and the robotic bird nearly sliced his right arm off with its sharp talons.This is not good, Zero thought frantically, I won’t be able to beat both at once… unless… His timing had to be perfect, his sense perfectly attuned or he wouldn’t even have a mite of a chance at pulling it off. Zero dodged and dashed out of the way of flying birds and scattering energy blasts as he waited for the inevitable lightning blast. His back was just shallowly razed by the robot bird’s claws when he felt it coming. He recognized the sudden silence in the arena, the subtle tingling of the air. With almost perfect equanimity, Zero closed his eyes and concentrated. Within the narrow window of a half a second, Zero threw his Z-Saber into the air to his left, and let forth a fully charged energy blast to his front. For a while, the cacophony and blindingly white thunder and lightning obscured the entire arena. Zero watched, his energy nearly drained, for a sign of his opponent. Finally his sight grew clear and Zero saw that his desperate gamble had worked magnificently. To his left, the flying bird-robot was pierced right through the middle with his Z-Saber, and directly in front of him was the tattered body of Protoman. Zero walked wearily to his opponent’s side and saw that he was unconscious. Relief and distaste washed over him as he heard the judge pronounce him the victor. He had won today, it was true, but at what cost to his morality? He laughed in grim humor as he grabbed his saber and marched out of the arena, waiting for his inevitable showdown with his best friend and perhaps his greatest rival, Megaman. Next Entry Back |