sparkler-v

[sparkler-v]

🌺 send this to ten blogs you think are wonderful 🌺

Sparkler: "Hey, check this out. People think we're wonderful!"

Chase: 'Really..? I guess we're doing alright.'

Irene: "Of course you are. Just observe all you have done to reach the point where you are. You've shown a great deal of strength, and that should be appreciated."

Sparkler: "Hey, what about me?"

Irene: "You've been here as well, I suppose."

Sparkler: "Wha- That's it?! And after all our character development!"

Irene: "The moment I see you once my memory is restored, I'm going to find a way to slap you."

Jay: "Irene. Be nice."

Irene: "She knows what she did."

#She disintegrated the Book of Mudora which can not so easily be forgiven! #Aw this was sweet #You guys are wonderful too #mischievously-playful-twins #ask #Sparkler Virus #Chase #Irene #Jay #thanks for the ask! :)

[sparkler-v]

There didn't appear to be anything odd about the lantern itself, other then an odd metallic shine on the glass. The blue light glowing within wasn't odd itself either, what with the common use of the color in ancient Sheikah technology. Though the lantern didn't appear to be Sheikah in origin... not at all...

As his hand touched the cool handle, immediately it was met with an strange buzzing. A constant vibration humming from the power contained within the light source that didn't contain any sort of flame.

Link couldn't help it - he cringed, throwing his arms up to shield himself as the tempest whipped him around and swept him off his feet.

But then... all was silent again...

Shaking a little, Link dared to look beyond his arms, suddenly clothed again.

Sparkler... He had to find Sparkler. Had he been kicked out of the...?

His gaze fell on the lantern... and he froze, almost expecting the cloaked person to step back into view.

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

It was a terrifying thought, especially following that show of power after the figure displayed a hint of frustration. However... seconds passed, crawling on as nothing seemed to happen. No words were spoken, the peaceful sounds of nocturnal creatures weren't interrupted, and the lantern continued to glow steady in the dark.

Its surface not as old and rusted as it first appeared in the figure's boney hand. Its metal smooth, though not without imperfection with an occasional scuffs here and there. Along with the letters, VCU, molded on its surface beneath the tented top of the lantern.

His frown deepened another notch.

"... Probably not. But I'll deal with it anyway."

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

'is SHE prepared?'

same answer. probably not. but we'll deal with it when we get there and try anyways.

I mean yes. always yes. definitely.

The Collector: "Wrong choice."

*Then blasts Link away!*

(( Though seriously! She clearly wasn't prepared back then and naturally won't be now. Dark times are approaching and The Collector is very much ready to sit back and be entertained. Though not before making things a little more interesting.

Jay is going to go ballistic the second he hears about this encounter. ))

#Thanks for the ask! :) #message from me #ooc #ask

[sparkler-v]

The air seemed to grow heavy, the darkness of the void pressing tight around him. As the figure who stood crooked small just a moment ago suddenly seemed to loom.

"Make her answer," they humorlessly demanded before lifting their staff and striking the ground.

Light erupting from the point it connected, pushing back the void with the fury of a tidal wave. Swallowing Link in its blinding glory, bringing forth powerful winds that whipped around him. Pushing against him with the strength of a hurricane. Threatening, no, promising to throw him off his feet like a rag doll as the ground beneath him suddenly vanished. Leaving him at the hellish mercy of the storm, all the while the wicked laughter of the hooded figure carried through the wind.

Surrounding... Mocking... Louder... LOUDER...!

Then, quiet... Dark... Wet as dew covered grass touched his face, wetting the front of his tunic as he laid fully clothed with his gear. The sound of a gentle breeze blowing through the trees touched his ear, as frogs and crickets filled the air with the music of the night.

A light steadily glowed, blanketing his head in blue from a creaky metal lantern left sitting right before his head.

His frown deepened another notch.

"... Probably not. But I'll deal with it anyway."

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

There was a pause as the hooded figure seemed to consider his words. Before they merely tilted their head as the lantern creaked in their hand.

"And is she prepared...?"

Link frowned deeply.

"... I don't know why you showed me all that. But I refuse to let anyone hurt Sparkler, or her family. Whether it's Lan or Slim or even you. I'll protect her to my last breath."

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Based on their behavior thus far, there was very little chance that this entity cared in the slightest for his urgency. Yet, something about this seemed to be drawing to a close. As the hooded figure chuckled once more, before glancing up at their lantern. Reaching a boney, mummified hand towards it as the creaky metal was unhooked from the top of their staff. Then lowered as it illuminated the front of their robes, yet failed to penetrate the darkness within their hood.

"Do continue to entertain. This world has been shaken down to its very foundations all thanks to that of your misguided courage," they teased, laughing out of their own twisted amusement before taking a more serious tone.

"Though a darkness now approaches. Hyrule's next page in history will be drawn from the blood of those who oppose it. Hands will be stained as strength crumbles beneath impossible judgements. Are you prepared for the path you have chosen, Bearer of Courage?"

Link frowned deeply.

"... I don't know why you showed me all that. But I refuse to let anyone hurt Sparkler, or her family. Whether it's Lan or Slim or even you. I'll protect her to my last breath."

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

A moment passed, their hand tightening around their staff as their shoulder shook. Before the hooded figure began to laugh in delight.

"Excellent! Truly marvelous! Yee hee hee.... Yours is a spirit so predictable, so stubborn, yet so fascinating to observe. Though now, the cards are laid before you. The playing field is even. I suppose you are prepared to face those so entitled to a sense of control."

Alarmed, Link scrambled to catch up with her, hoping desperately that she and Chase and Speedy were okay...

... But of course they were okay. Because they continued on long enough to meet him...

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Several feet away, standing beneath the light of the lantern hung from the top of their twisted staff. There was the entity who'd opened the way into Sparkler’s memories. Presumably staring at him as the deep red light burned within the shrouded void of their thin purple hood. A bony, mummified hand gripping loosely to the staff as they slowly gestured towards Link with the other.

"Yee hee hee... So, your journey through the past has reached its end. Now you've returned to the present, though with what for the future?"

Alarmed, Link scrambled to catch up with her, hoping desperately that she and Chase and Speedy were okay...

... But of course they were okay. Because they continued on long enough to meet him...

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

He had that thought to comfort him at least, as the flood of bright light inevitably over took him. The world around him fading, fading until it was no more. Nothing left but the dark tunnel Sparkler had long since vanished into, without a hint of her glow to be seen.

Soon enough, darkness and light began to clash. Silence greeting him as the world seemed to ripple and shift as though passing through an unseen barrier. The darkness overtaking once the sensation passed. Banishing the light as though it'd never existed in the first place. Leaving Link in nothing but a void.

Quiet, dark and empty. For as far as he could seen there was nothing of color or value. Not even back in the direction he'd came. It was though the world had both quickly and suddenly ceased to exist.

Though it was not the first time he'd found himself in such a void. Nor was he alone as a bone cutting chill slowly crept through the air, followed by the scent of death and decay. The familiar wicked laugh of the one who'd brought him here touching his ear from somewhere behind him.

Panicked and enraged, Link reached for a sword... that wasn't there.

In a rush, he remembered that this was only a memory... but it certainly didn't make it any easier to witness.

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Bit by bit the other men began to catch on and edge around the flying bolts. Grins returning, confidence regained as all eyes set upon the enormous gaping doorway Chase and Speedy had fled through.

"Heh... You're a real disappointment," Slim muttered as he looked down on Sparkler, "Pretending like you can be one of us. Like everything you did could be brushed away. Believing the lies of that man, making you look up to him like a hero. Unable to see just how broken he's made you."

"Turbo said," Sparkler bit out, squeezing her fists as she took a step back, "he said that... I am a person."

"... Does a person deny what they are?" Slim smoothly asked, pointing a finger directly where her core resided beneath her chest, "Does a person have to break part of their very being, to be a person? Heh. You may see me as the villain, but Turbo... He sure weren't the hero. I wonder though if he'll keep you around now. You sure didn't spring to protect 'im."

At that, Sparkler flinched back as though she'd been struck. Her eyes flitting towards Turbo's beaten helmet laying not far from where he'd fallen.

"You sure didn't spring to protect his kid neither."

What happened next was sudden. Like a switch being flipped and a light blub bursting from the shear shock and power.

Sparkler's fear for the man before her vanished, only to be replaced by a more powerful fear. One that broke her from her frozen state, as she bolted with such power that the man was knocked off his feet with a shout. Blue electricity whipping around him as the helmet vanished from the ground, before the bolt sped straight for the door Chase vanished through. Tearing up floor tiles in the wake of her power as Slim's men struggled to remain standing as well. Though oddly as she left them in the dust, none of them tried to follow her through the door. The closest one pointing up at the sign above it, causing the others to loose their eagerness and stop before it as Slim let out a loud swear.

Though whatever they were saying was lost to the wild as the world rapidly grew white. The memory unable to continue where there was nothing experienced to be remembered.

Panicked and enraged, Link reached for a sword... that wasn't there.

In a rush, he remembered that this was only a memory... but it certainly didn't make it any easier to witness.

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

No, it didn't. Not when Sparkler's usually excited face was stretched with rage. Not when bolts of lightning shot wildly from her body, absolutely tearing through floor tiles, benches, and information screens along with anything else they could reach. Not when tears flowed freely down her cheeks, as her eyes gave away the deep fear she had in the wake of the man before her.

The man who paused in his step as a bolt struck the ground dangerously close to him. His sharp eyes gleaming as he looked over her, taking in every inch of her unstable form as distorted ripples coursed through her. Before gazing over at his own men, watching as they backed off from the electricity striking the ground with such force that it shook the earth beneath them. Each of them daring not to step forward, raising their arms in a feeble attempt to protect themselves from the virus that could kill them easliy.

And yet...

... Slim visibly relaxed, making a show of rolling his shoulders before he took a step forward. Then another, and another... Paying no heed to the lightning striking around his feet, mere inches from spelling his doom to the fate of the virus it carried.

Yet... Not once did it touch him. Not once did it even sting a dry, split hair on his head.

"I'm miiiighty impressed, Sparky," Slim chuckled as he began to close the distance between them, "Not many Sprites have this kind of control... It's far from what you had that day you arrived."

The bolts of energy died back as Slim drew himself up right before her, forcing Sparkler to lean back as he loomed over.

"... You ain't gunna touch me. No, no. You ain't the virus you were. You've grown a liiittle conscience in that tiny brain of yours. You're not gunna do it. Not when you worked soooo hard all this time ta prove it."

... Link lingered there for a moment or two... before steeling himself and turning to move on to the next memory.

Something told him it wasn't likely to be a happy one...

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Lifting his gaze naturally brought his attention towards the closest person to him. However... it wasn’t Sparkler...

Laying on the cold hard ground as though he'd been pushed, there was a child. A small boy wearing simple jeans and a pair of sneakers. An oversized white sweatshirt with a red letter T on its front, that looked to belong to an adult with how it appeared to practically swallow the child up. Looking further the boy himself had a mop of messy black hair on his round head. Strands of which hung over his eyes, bright and golden... Wide and traumatized as the already pale boy stared in horror at the pool of blood, and the body laying in it not far from him.

He had no voice. Chase had no voice, and could not scream.

"Get that kid!"

"Chase! Run!!!"

The desperate cry seemed to snap the boy out of his stupor, though not before Speedy seemed to appear out from nowhere. Bitting on the boy's baggy sleeve as the greyhound began to drag him away.

Not even a moment later, a blue bolt of energy zipped where Chase had been. As Sparkler took form, putting herself between Chase and the body. Between Chase and a half dozen armed men seeking to lay their hands on him. Between Chase and the man who'd shouted, who stood there lowering the smoking barrel of his rifle as he stared through his mask at the virus with murderous rage.

"You think you're gettin' away?" Slim asked with a dangerous tone, paying no mind as he stepped towards the pixelated mass that was once a body. Slowly beginning to fade away as the pixels fluttered and vanished.

"No, this ain't over. Not for none of you!"

... Link lingered there for a moment or two... before steeling himself and turning to move on to the next memory.

Something told him it wasn't likely to be a happy one...

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

As he passed through the blinding light of the doorway and the world became white. A sudden loud, ear splitting bang rang out and echoed throughout the space around him. Lasting only a second.

Just a second...

The world he found himself in was different from all the others before. Enormous doorways lining strange artificial walls that stretched as high as a cathedral. Lights flickered and screams echoed out as the blurred bodies of sprites ran around dirty benches made from metal. As well as a number of round pillars with glowing screens displaying a message that somehow was far clearer then any of the rushing bodies.

"If you die outside your game, you don't regenerate. Ever. Game Over."

There was a hollow thunk. The sound of something bouncing off the solid ground and rolling, before a familiar shape came to a stop at his feet.

A racing helmet. Once white with a bold red letter T across its front. Now malformed, scared with scorch marks and littered with holes including a massive one blown through the back. Shredding the cushion inside the helmet and shattering the protective visor in front. Leaving it broken, marred, cracked and damaged as a single red drop of liquid fell from the hole in its back and stained the ground beside his foot.

Link puffed out a little sigh.

"... Still not sure how it's all supposed to help us now. But I'll keep looking."

It was all he could do without warping back to the Korok Forest and trying to reach her again.

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Sparkler lifted her head at that, offering a small though grateful smile at his kind words. Before closing her eyes as the cracks suddenly spread throughout her body like hot glass dipped in in water. Holding shape for just a moment until chips began to fall. The rest of her body collapsing into thousands of glittering, sharp pieces where she once sat. Leaving him alone beneath the shade of the bleachers where no one would come to sit again.

Link puffed out a little sigh.

"... Still not sure how it's all supposed to help us now. But I'll keep looking."

It was all he could do without warping back to the Korok Forest and trying to reach her again.

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Sparkler hummed, turning her head as she rested her chin on her knees.

"Yeah, okay..." she replied, though let out a resigned sigh as she looked away, "Maybe the next one will be more useful."

Link shook his head.

"Not yet... But I'll keep going. I'm not giving up."

#Reality of the Game #wild champion

[sparkler-v]

Almost immediately, Sparkler’s expression twisted incredulously as the cracks spread further down her neck.

"Slim?!" she blurted in disbelief, "eh? They've all been about 'im? But... Why?! He's ancient history! Terrible, horrible history, but..."

It sounded bizarre, but... maybe...

"... You say he reminds you of Lan... Yeah, I can see that. I mean, what Lan did to Jay, was pretty much what Slim wanted ta do to me. But he didn't get to me in time. All thanks to Turbo and our little deal."

"It's not right." Link asserted firmly.

"Maybe they needed protection. But it shouldn't have been him."

He didn't care that they had only a limited time. He needed to say his piece.

"... I wish I was there. I would've helped..."

#Reality of the Game #wild champion