Beat yawned back to life, trying to wake fully up. He realized that he was the first to wake among his friends. He looked at all the bowels piled up from Richard's soup.
"Hmm, soup seems to be pretty impressive." stated Red Spirit walking next to Beat.
"Oh? Hey Red, what did you need?" yawned Beat.
"To warn you. One of three will be gravely injured. The three destined for greatness may end up fighting a beast that eats souls." warned Red Spirit.
"So me, Link, or Vakanos will end up fighting this monster?" moaned Beat.
"Yeah. Just about hit the nail on the head." chuckled Red. "Bye."
"Wait!" growled Beat before Red ran off. "Damn it."
"What's up?" yawned Reggi.
"Nothing, just a bad dream." laughed Beat nervously.
"Oh alight. Oh crap, I've gotta find Ai!" shouted Strafe, waking half the group.
"Shut up!" moaned Gwen.
"I'm trying to sleep!" growled Skull Kid.
"Sorry!" shouted Strafe as he ran off.
"Ha, it seems like this is going to be a good day." laughed Peter walking up to Beat.
"Yeah, but looks can be deceiving." muttered Beat.
Before Peter could ask any more questions Beat walked off towards the field of battle.
Kai sat on a rock sharpening several blades. He looked up to see Beat walking up with the ōkatana held in his hand.
"Any luck mastering the use of that weapon?" laughed Kai.
"Yeah, took awhile but I got it." smiled Beat.
"Good, that's a tricky weapon to master. The length is a difficult part to get used to."
"Oh the length wasn't the difficult part, it was the lightness. I'm used to heavy blades." laughed Beat.
"Haha, I guess I'm just so accustomed to the blades that the weight doesn't even bother me. Ready for the new fighting area?"
"New area?" gasped Beat.
"Yeah, the fights are gonna take place out on the cliffs now. That way everyone can fight to the full extent now." explained Kai.
"Oh great!" laughed Beat. "No more having to worry about breaking anything!"
Kai laughed and led Beat to the cliff where they would be fighting now.
"Hey there fellas." greeted Ricky. "Just in time for some help."
"What's in need of our assistance?" asked Beat.
"Oh I just need to decide a few pairings. All of you are great fighters and I want to make the fights exciting. Who should I pair up?" sighed Ricky.
"Well I was thinking Strafe versus Ace would be a good match." suggested Kai.
"I'd wanna see Ai versus Link." laughed Beat.
"Oh and Vakanos versus Edmund!" exclaimed Ricky. "Calm collected strength, versus wild and aggressive cunning."
"Good fight. How about the two of us fight?" suggested Kai.
"That'd be fun." laughed Beat. "Oh and then we're done since theres only four fights then we finish sooner!"
"Not exactly, since you all made it this far you're all probably gonna have longer fights. I mean Ace and you are both great fighters a fight between you two would not end quickly." laughed Ricky. "Alright, go gather the crowd, I'll get the other fighters."
Link was talking with Travie when Strafe came walking up with a black haired girl who was a head shorter.
"Gentlemen meet Ai, my sweet little sister." laughed Strafe.
"Strafe, shut up!" whined Ai.
"It's a pleasure my dear." greeted Travis bowing low.
"Hi there." smiled Link.
"Umm, hello." greeted Ai shyly. "I wanted to join you all last night, but I needed to practice for my fight."
"Its not a problem. We'll hold a bigger dinner than last night for you." laughed Strafe.
"Well I'll let you talk to Richard about that." chuckled Link before walking off.
"Hey guys, help get all the spectators to the cliffs, that's where we're holding the fights now." shouted Kai as he ran past.
"Ok!" replied Strafe grabbing his sister. "To the cliffs!"
Beat sprinted to the carts and informed his friends of the new fighting grounds and then headed to the windmill. When he got there he felt like he sprung a trap.
The TerraSliders that already lost surrounded Beat. Liza walked up to him and growled in his face.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"As happy as I am to see you Liza, I'm here to speak with Ace, and maybe Edmund." he growled.
"You can't go in there. Ace is doing a traditional battle preparation." spat the fighter Archer had beaten in the first round.
"And besides, he wouldn't want to talk with you." laughed the one Beat had fought in the second round.
"Oh really?" roared Ace opening the door. "I said keep people from disturbing me, but all of you are the ones ruining my focus!"
"But Grimsley…" started Liza.
"I'll hear him out." sighed Ace.
"We're fighting on the cliffs, less damage to the town and more room for the fights." explained Beat.
"Thanks. Now I suggest leaving before Liza tries anything." nodded Ace.
"Alright." nodded Beat running off.
"What? You're friends with the guy now?" growled Liza.
"No dear sister, I'm just showing respect, something all of you need to learn." spat Ace turning back and going inside.
"He's getting attached." groaned one of the smaller TerraSliders.
"Shut it! Ace is just proving he's a great fighter. He shows respect to one who has disrespected him." snapped Liza. "I respect his judgment, but I disagree with it also." she sighed.
After word had spread of the relocation the cliffs were soon filled with spectators. Ricky was standing on the top of a flat rock and was announcing the fight pairings.
"I had some good suggestions, and now the next rounds fights will be Link versus Edmund, Ace versus Strafe, Beat versus Ai, and Vakanos versus Kai." announced Ricky.
"He only used one idea." grumbled Beat. He now had to fight Strafe's younger sister Ai.
"Excuse me." mumbled a girl tugging Beat's shirt.
"Yes?" asked Beat turning to see a girl about Peter's height.
"I'm your opponent Ai Fletch. I do hope we will have a good fight." smiled the girl shyly.
"Oh? You're Strafe's sister? It's a pleasure to meet you. I agree, I do hope we have a good fight." laughed Beat.
"Oh, and I'll try not to hurt you." laughed the girl as she ran off towards her brother.
"What the hel…"
"Hey Beat, good luck!" laughed Ivy gliding up to him.
"Woah, did you get faster?" he gasped.
"Oh? No, we can glide faster on rough rock. Terra is rock, so we 'slide' much easier on our blades." explained Ivy pecking his cheek.
"Then what were you called before you had the blades?" he taunted.
"We are also great runners, and don't really worry about terrain. We could run through a mile of broken glass and still never slow down." laughed Ivy.
"But you'd have some bloody feet." he laughed before embracing her in a bear hug.
"Oh you're hilarious." she sarcastically replied.
Link looked at Edmund, who now seemed different from the first two rounds. He fought more aggressively. He seemed like he was an evil too powerful to comprehend.
"Well, you had better fight well today." sighed Green Spirit appearing next to him.
"Why?" asked Link.
"No reason." stated Green.
"C'mon tell me!" whined Link.
"Nope." yawned Green before vanishing.
"So even the spirits are noticing his change." sighed Richard walking up behind Link.
"You noticed his change?" gasped Link.
"Yeah, I've always had a knack for noticing personality changes." smiled Richard. "Be careful out there."
"I will." nodded Link.
After everyone settled down the first fight between Vakanos and Kai began.
"Good luck." smiled Kai.
"Same to you." nodded Vakanos.
The two bowed, and then jumped back. Kai drew a katana and jumped at Vakanos. But he was blocked by a heavy blow from his halberd. The Vakan then slammed the butt of the halberd into the ground sending cinders flying.
"Hmph, impressive." grunted Kai as he sheathed his blade. He then drew a long thin knife from his belt. He lunged at Vakanos trying to surprise him with a sudden jump.
"Sorry, not gonna work." laughed Vakanos. He grabbed Kai by his arm and held him in the air.
"This is embarrassing." laughed Kai dropping his knife. "I can fix this though."
Kai then grabbed a short sword from his belt and slashed his opponents arm.
Vakanos merely winced, and then grabbed the sword from his foe's hand. He tossed it aside and then held both of Kai's arms above his head.
"Ok, now I'm done." sighed Kai.
"Vakanos will be our first semifinalist. Next we'll have Ace versus Strafe." announced Ricky.
"Good luck brother!" shouted Ai as Strafe jumped up.
"Ai, I'm right here. No need to strain your voice." laughed her brother. "Now, time to face a TerraSlider."
"Hey, I'm right here!" growled Ivy.
"I meant like in a fight." explained Strafe as he ran towards the open area.
"I knew that, I just wanted to give him a hard time." laughed Ivy turning to Ai.
Ai smiled shyly and then ran off to watch her big brother.
Ace and Strafe exchanged greetings and bowed. Then they began.
Ace had his blades on his boots so he glided effortlessly around Strafe. Strafe seemed to have some kind of trick up his sleeve because he was laughing the entire time.
"And right about…" started Strafe, "NOW!!!" he laughed.
Ace fell to the ground as Strafe pulled a chain erupting from the ground.
"What the hell?" gasped Ace as the chain snaked it's way around him.
"A little trick I've been hiding. Earth Vipers, a very special kind of magic that makes the point of my focus behave like a whip or snake." explained Strafe.
"Clever, but you shouldn't have wrapped around my legs." taunted Ace. He then pulled his blades off his boots and smacked the flat if the blades against the snakelike chain.
"What?" gasped Strafe as Ace broke free.
Ace attached the blades to his gloves and rushed at Strafe. Strafe jumped back to avoid a quick jab. He then swiped his hand across Ace's chest leaving three cuts on his chest. Ace gasped when he saw his opponents empty hands.
"How'd you do that?" growled Ace.
"Simple, I used these!" laughed Strafe hurling glass daggers.
When they struck Ace they shattered, leaving shards of glass in his arm.
"Clever." growled Ace, trying to dig the glass out of his arm. Suddenly the sharp bits of glass seemed to vanish. "What?"
"It's magic. I use my magic to make glass that breaks on impact, but then rebuild themselves back in my hands." explained Strafe.
"Alright I get it, you're using magic." snapped Ace.
"Rude." muttered Strafe as he held his knives ready to fight.
Ace jumped up and brought the blades down to pierce Strafe's shoulder.
"Aggh!" shouted Strafe as he fell. "Errg, ooh." he groaned. "Too much magic used. I quit."
"Strafe is unable to continue. Ace is moving on to the Semifinals. Now we'll see if the younger of the two Fletchs will move on. Ai versus Beat next up!" laughed Ricky.
"Good luck." nodded Beat to Ai.
"Likewise." nodded Ai.
Beat was instantly hit in the gut by her foot. He hunched over to make her think she hurt him, and then regretted it as she slammed an elbow into his back.
"Hey!" shouted Beat.
"Shadow Soldier!" chanted Ai focusing her energy into raising her arms. She spread her fingers and the hands rose, several shadows grew to form bodies.
"Oh Nayru!" gasped Beat after counting eight soldiers. The shadows encircled him and each drew a curved sword.
"I'm sorry, but I have something to take care of soon. I'm going to have to end it now." sighed Ai.
"Sorry, but you'll be a little late." laughed Beat running through one of the shadows. As he landed he spun on his heel and drew his ōkatana.
Beat slashed and blocked with the blade. He was able to keep them from hitting him, but he couldn't hit the shadows.
"Sorry, but my shadows aren't harmed by physical means." apologized Ai with a sympathetic smile.
"Oh really? Then how about I…" started Beat before having to block an onslaught of attacks. Beat's shouts were muffled by the eight shadows piling up on him. But suddenly the shadows jumped off of him. Two withered and burned as Beat jumped up, sending a shot of fire into the air.
"As I was saying before those shadows rudely interrupted, I guess I'll use my flames." growled Beat. He snapped his fingers and two more burned to a crisp.
Beat then had to dodge several slashes from the other shadows. He noticed that Ai now held her hands with her right pinky and middle fingers bent, while her left pointer and middle were bent.
"One shadow for each finger, but are her thumbs included?" he muttered. He then rolled under a swipe from another shadow and shot a fireball into the shadow.
Ai growled and bent her left pinkie.
"Din's Spiral!" shouted Beat. Then five rings of fire arranged themselves around the fighting area. Beat dove into one and vanished, reappearing behind Ai. He then rolled towards her, and shot a fireball into her shadow.
"No!!!" she shouted as her shadow rose and shriveled.
Beat then felt a sharp pain in his back. As he fell he saw his shadow standing over him with blood falling from an ōkatana made from shadows. The fires burned down, and then died.
"It looks like Beat is…" started Ricky.
"Wait!" shouted Beat. He slowly rose and stood up. He sheathed his gift from Kai and reached into his torn shirt and pulled put a scimitar. "I want to continue!"
Beat spun his sword and when he pulled it over his head in Gerudo style he revealed a second scimitar and pointed both at his independent shadow.
"Bring it!" growled the emotionless shadow.
Beat swung his blades at the new opponent and released a wave of fire at his foe. The shadow deftly dodged and watched one of it's fellow shadows wither and die.
Ai let her entire left hand fall now. She seemed exhausted even though she hadn't moved that much. "Three more left." she wheezed in exhaustion.
Beat was in no better shape. He panted and gasped for breath as he fought, channeling the fire through his weapons. He managed to slash through the other two so now Ai only held a her right thumb up as she channeled her energy to keeping the shadow going.
"Tired?" snickered the shadow.
"A little." gasped Beat as he fell to the ground. He then erupted in flames, and left a burn mark in the hardened earth.
"That was…" started the shadow before it felt a burning hot sensation in it's back.
"This is painful!" shouted Beat plunging the burning scimitars into both of the shadow's shoulder blades.
Ai stumbled back, and fell onto her bottom. Beat dropped his weapons and walked over to his opponent.
"Here, let me help you up." smiled Beat, offering his hand.
"Thank you." replied Ai shyly.
"Beat moves on to the next round. So now who will join the Semifinalists next? Link or Edmund?" announced Ricky.
The three spirits sat on the windmill's roof staring out at the cliffs.
"Well, looks like I'm going to need to intervene." yawned Green.
"Link may be capable of winning." replied Blue trying to lighten the mood.
"I could always make Link get sick and miss his chance to fight." offered Green.
"Green, we were ordered to only respond to when they want our help, our when they need our help. We can't decide, only our introductions break that code." explained Red.
"Yeah yeah, page eight, subsection D, paragraph four, line seven." growled Green.
Blue laughed and then turned to Green.
"He needs to fight. He has fought something similar to this evil." reassured Blue. "Remember who he fought in the Water Temple?"
"Dark Link isn't the same as a Soul Eater!" shouted Green.
"Too late, fights starting." yawned Red.
Link looked at Edmund and nodded. Edmund just snickered. They bowed and then jumped back. Edmund drew his sword from his belt and lunged at Link, who easily ducked underneath. He then smacked the underside of Edmund's knees making him fall to the ground.
Edmund growled and jumped up. He remained silent and just growled and snarled.
Beat watched the fight. "Something isn't right. Nabooru said there'd be two of Skull King's Sins. Jacob was Pride, but Envy should be here. I doubt he lost. So he'd have to be…" Beat gasped as he realized who the beast was. "Edmund, I thought it was just a monster attacking at night. I've got to get to Ricky!"
Beat rushed to the announcer and explained everything he knew. He said that Edmund was linked to Jacob, and the fight needed to end now.
"Everyone stop! That man is linked to the boy who attacked the village! Seize him!" shouted Ricky.
"Pathetic. I envy your ignorance." laughed Edmund. "The previous owner of this body would be intimidated, but not me! I am a Soul Eater, and you'll be my next meal!"
"I don't think so!" shouted Link running up to stop Edmund.
"Oh how cute." laughed Edmund. He drew his sword and raised it to slash down.
"I'm not letting you hurt him!" growled Vakanos as he swung his halberd down snapping the sword in half.
"Alright, now I'm mad." growled Edmund. He snapped his fingers and black wings as thin as a feather grew. He soared into the air and then dive-bombed at Vakanos.
"Oh no you don't!" laughed Vakanos as the Goron crest formed on his head. His halberd glowed red and he was engulfed in light. When it cleared he was standing tall with a red chest plate covering his white shirt.
"Sage Warrior, you've made a big mistake!" laughed Edmund.
"I beg to differ, I've just evened the odds!" laughed Vakanos. Thick red wings grew from the back of the armor and allowed him to fly.
"Vakanos, I lend you my powers!" shouted Archer tossing his hookshot to his friend.
"I accept your powers for as long as they are required." nodded the Vakan grabbing the hookshot.
The Kokiri emblem flourished around Vakanos's eye and the hookshot changed into a green metal gauntlet on his right arm. The armors met and seemed to click together to form more protection.
"Ok, I'll admit that's impressive, but I'll still kill you." yawned Edmund. He then hurled a green orb if energy at Vakanos that shut his body down.
"I can't move!" gasped Vakanos as he fell.
"I've gotcha!" shouted Beat rushing to catch his friend.
"Beat, I lend you my powers!" he shouted the Vakan.
Beat then saw the armor vanish off of Vakanos and reappear onto him. He caught his friend and then flew up into the air darting towards his enemy.
"Hmm, that's intriguing. But I think I've stayed long enough." yawned Edmund. He snapped his fingers and the wings enveloped him. He then vanished from everyones sights.
Beat landed and felt the armor fade off of him, returning back to their normal forms.
"Is he ok?" asked Beat running up to Vakanos.
"Yeah, I guess it only lasted until he ran away." sighed Archer in relief.
"Here's your hookshot." wheezed Beat as he was embraced by Ivy.
"Don't you ever try that again!" she ordered holding him tightly.
"I've got the idea, let go! I can't breathe." whined Beat.
"Oomph, I'm alright." moaned the dazed Vakan.
"Alright. I know this will not matter, but seeing as Edmund is gone, Link moves on to the Semifinals." sighed Ricky.
"Wait, so we all made it!" laughed Link. "We di…"
"Woah Link are you alright? You just passed out and…" started Beat before falling unconscious on top of him.
Link and Beat woke up in the Chamber of Sages. With them was the three spirits and Zelda. The five sages stood around the spot reserved fit the Light Sage.
"Hello everyone." greeted Impa. "We've been brought here by the goddesses to inform you of dire news. Rauru is not going to live much longer."
"We must reveal the Light Temple to awaken the next Sage of Light." added Saria.
"I advise releasing Ganondorf, he'll be able to help us. I know I'll sound cruel, but I think we should let Rauru die." sighed Beat.
"I agree." nodded Nabooru. "He was a victim of Skull King's power. The same way my race is fighting one another."
"No, the ones heading the fight are female Bone Soldiers disguised as Gerudo." corrected Impa. "But for now you all did well. Enjoy the rest of the tournament, we'll contact you when you're needed."
"Right. Tomorrow the fights get interesting." laughed Beat looking at Link.
"We may end up fighting each other, but until then, good luck." nodded Link clasping Beat's hand.
"It'll be so hard to choose who to root for." laughed Zelda.
"Agreed." laughed the spirits.
Blue and the other spirits stood in a new room now. They looked to their employers and kneeled and removed their masks.
"You all passed." nodded Nayru.
"We wanted to test your ability to see how well you obey orders. You passed." laughed Din.
"Now you'll just need to keep them all alive." reminded Farore. "We here by order you to enjoy the rest of your time in Kakariko."
"Yes milady!" nodded the spirits.
Beat sat next to Link and Vakanos next to the carts. Now a third cart had joined up with Kai, and a vast collection of bladed weapons.
"Ha, I'll need to change my wish if I win." laughed Beat.
"Me too." sighed Link.
"I'll be sticking with my wish for peace." yawned Vakanos.
"We may steal your idea." laughed Link.
"Go ahead, I need a better chance for peace between Vakans and TerraSliders." chuckled Vakanos.
"Yeah, I know. You know what? From now on I will call you Vak! No more long names. Vak, how do you feel?" announced Beat.
"It's alright. But I've had too much excitement today. I'm sleeping now." yawned Vakanos.
"I second that!" agreed Link.
"Then it is decided. We all sleep now." sighed Beat before they all dropped their heads.
