Unknown

The setting: An old medieval castle city that looked like it had been long since sacked by invaders. The time: It was night time and cloudy, meaning no moonlight was showing. There were some faint lights in the ruined building, meaning there was life in this dead city. This is where Din, Nayru, and Farore had sent Leon to try and find P-Chan.

Dotted throughout the city were zombie looking creatures that had wooden masks on their faces. They were just Standing there, not moving outside a slight wobble. They had faint flowing yellow eyes, that were trained on Leon. Showing that even though they weren't moving towards him, for the moment, they knew he was there and they were waiting.

Leon had expected many things when coming over, but what he didn't expect was the weary environment he found himself in. Is this where P-Chan was suppose to be at? This definitely wasn't heaven, and he doubted it was a purgatory or was it? He found himself having more questions then answers the more he thought about it.

No use in that though, he needed to be cautious as there were zombies around and gods know what else. It made him really wish he had weapons just in case, if they were anything like zombies in stories fighting hand to hand was a death sentence since you could become infected that easily.

Maybe there's some friendly people...

'Friendly' may have been stretching it, more like weary survivors you had to earn their trust first sorta type. To Leon it was almost like he found himself in some strange post apocalypse world. Either way he was keeping his guard up.

As Leon goes to check out the lights, it turns out that there weren't survivors, like he originally thought, but left overs of what happened. There was a family of skeletons sprawled around the ruined house and some glow stones on the wall that were still working.

It was pretty much the same for all the other houses. In the last one, all was still, like before. Except now, something in the darkness moves!

Leon found the scene more then a bit sad, but there was nothing he could do for them so he focused on what was around him. However, the Alusarian decided to look around for anything he could use for a sort of weapon.

He caught movement, he tensed. It could be hostile, it could be something else. Just to be on the safe side he went to take cover behind a building while trying to peer over. In cases like these, it was better safe then sorry.

The only weapons around, were old, rusted knives and some blunt objects. In the spot where Leon took cover, there was a small skeleton holding a slingshot that looked in decent shape.

Something was stumbling around in the darkness, which gave off an old leather creak and the sound of bones knocking. Soon after, out of the darkness, comes a walking skeleton, it had bits of leathery flesh still attacked to it's bones.

The skeleton swings it's gaze around, it's hollow eyes looking at everything in the room, but seeing nothing, it continues with it's search.

The weapons weren't exactly the best and he'd prefer his old load out if this had been in his merc days but then that be too easy wouldn't it? Come to think of it, from what Danny said this was likely what he meant as far as being apart of a test. For all he knew, he'd be doing the same thing even if all agreed; or they did all agree but that he still had go through it.

It didn't matter either way, he was here now. He took the sling shot and a rusted knife and continued on his way. Against a bunch of unknown enemies in hostile territory, the most intelligent course of action was to play it like a stealth ops.

Leon kept it moving, perhaps he'd find a building to climb on so he could get a further view. The castle seemed like a death trap, but for all he knew who he was looking for was there.

As soon as Leon took the slingshot, the child's skull turns towards him and seems to let out a silent scream, but there was nothing. The skeletons kept doing what they were doing. Wandering around, silently.

One of the clay zombies starts towards Leon and lets out an Extremely shrill shriek that caused Leon's body to completely Freeze in place!

The clay zombie kept slowly walking towards him, it's yellow eyes fixed on him, suddenly whatever magic the zombie used on him wore off and Leon could move again!

Leon was taken off guard by the deceased moving now, but he honestly shouldn't have been surprised. If he was an lesser man that and this place would have unerved him. However, regardless he decided then to..

Before he could go with his next action, an shrill cry echoced which froze him in place. He gritted his teeth as clay zombie approached, unable to move until the last moment.

Once his functions return, Leon threw one of the rusted knives at the zombie's neck. Hopefully with a combination of his enhanced strength and the fact he knew how to throw would deccpatiate the creature. If zombies worked Anything like any fictional series ever then head shots were the sure way to go.

If this didn't work, he'd retreat. Since the creature could freeze him, fighting hand to hand was a death sentence. Especially with these poor weapons he had with him.

The clay zombie staggers back, but retains it's footing, however, the light in it's eyes had faded and it slumps forwards with a strangled moan. This caused all the other clay zombies in the area to start walking towards the fallen one.

Suddenly, an arrow goes whizzing past Leon's head, missing him by less than an inch! It seems the skeletons, who were now wearing armor and had actual weapons, were aware of his presents!

Of course, I shouldn't be remotely surprised. Leon thought to himself. Instead of defeating the strange clay zombie, it ended up making things worse, drawing more attention to himself. Seeing there was an unknown number of enemies and he had little to work with far as weapons, it was best to withdraw for now.

So he left, quickly, using the buildings as cover to get away. There was the thing of running into other cluster of enemies so he had to be mindful of that, hopefully these things weren't faster then a normal person. The only advantage he had in this rather dreary situation was his wits and being physically stronger and faster then humans or average humanoids.

As Leon hide behind one of the buildings, he used his sling shot after getting some pebble to launch far away in the opposite direction. The things seemed attracted by sound, and hopefully if they heard something else the opposite end they'd get distracted on a wild goose chase, however brief giving breathing times. He was more worried about the skeletons then the slower clay zombies, they were no doubt faster and probably a bit smarter.

The clay zombies held their ground, but the noise got the attention of some of the skeletons, who went to investigate. So far, the skeletons seemed to be just as fast as a normal Human, which might stand to reason that they would be as strong as one as well.

After a few minuets, a couple of armored skeletons come out with some skeleton dogs. They were planning on sniffing Leon out!

The dog trainers were accompanied by four serious looking skeletons, who were dressed in full armor and each had a metal buckler and a broadsword, with a bow and some arrows on their backs.

That might hint as a physical advantage, which made his life easier though the issue was those with range and lacking a decent weapon. Perhaps if he ambushed one that was by itself but that wasn't the here or there.

Then the dogs came, which made things harder but he was no less determined. He was doing his best to keep away from them, but it would only last so long. That was why he decided to see if there was anything he could use to throw off their scent..even if it meant putting on unsavory things on his person.

The things people did for loved ones.

The bad news was, there was nothing unsavory around. It had all rotted away long ago. If one paid attention to what the skeletons and clay zombies were doing, one would notice that they were being herded towards the castle. After all, Leon was on a clock and running was getting him nowhere.

Being on a clock made things that much more difficult as while he wanted to avoid getting bogged down, it also meant avoiding wasted just about as much time if not more.

Not sure. Maybe my target is in that castle. I'll use the cover and make a break for it..

So with those thoughts in mind, he picked up the pace towards the castle while trying to do his best to avoid the patrols but if need be he'd just have to fight through them.

There was nothing guarding the entrance to the castle. But there were some bats just past the entrance. They swooped in to attack, but they could be quickly scared away.

Once inside the castle, which had a massive central room that had a column in the middle with a pair of double doors that were locked.

There were six doors dotted around the main hall and a strange symbol above each of them, followed by some kind of energy flowing from each door, to the central door in the middle of the room.

Leon had a feeling what he was looking for was behind the double locked doors, which meant he'd have to find the keys. Of course, it was also possible nothing for him was there and it was behind one of the other doors. Either way, having no other leads he had to basically go with the 'try all' button with going with his gut.

He went to one of the doors and attempted to open it, the first one. He wasn't sure if they were locked as well.

The door wasn't locked. Behind it, was a rather simple block puzzle with a few jelly monsters slithering around. On the ground, by one of the blocks, was a hand-and-a-half sword and a small buckler shield.

While they weren't the best weapons, they were a deal better then the sling shot or rusted knives he had been using before, so he reluctantly took them as the poor soul before wouldn't have need of them anymore.

He did feel like a character in those old stories trying to save the love of their lives in a castle. Hopefully that didn't mean the classic trope of having to fight through a dragon. Self humor and irony were good to get through situations like these, but he didn't want to jinx himself.

Leon was going to leave as he was pressed for time, however the block puzzle may unlock something so he opted to do just that, just in case it was magical and helped him along the way. If it took too long or did nothing, he'd immediatly leave. There was five other rooms to search.

The block puzzle didn't really do much. Except for the final block fitted into a slot that the same symbol at the door and there was a type of energy coming from that symbol, but when Leon completed the puzzle, the energy dissipated.

Back out in the main room, the energy feeding into the locked main door from this room, was gone. Meaning, the more rooms Leon completed, the weaker the barrier around the main door would be.

Leon was studying things as he went, going out the door to see if anything was different. He wasn't entirely sure how the process worked or what it was doing, but it seemed the puzzles were connected to something.

Now he was almost positive what he was looking for was in the main door or past it. For now, he focused on going in the other rooms to complete the puzzles.

Each puzzle was different. Some needed the wind to complete, some needed fire, and others needed water. There was one where Leon needed to beat every enemy in the room to complete.

But finally, all six rooms were completed and the barrier around the central rood was gone! But it needed a master key to unlock. Luckily there was one in the battle room.

Once in, there was a flight of curved stairs that lead to a room, where there were some skeleton knights and the door wouldn't open until they were beaten. Oddly enough, the room wasn't empty, rather, there were strange plants that seemed to be growing bombs.

Leon had his weapons from before, not exactly in the best shape but he had them for use. While he wasn't trained in melee weapons, his main advantage was being physically stronger.

However, the bombs gave him an idea of using them to get rid of the enemies soon, assuming they worked like normal. If not, he'd deal.

After grabbing one of the bombs, he chucked it towards the nearest cloup of enemies.

Oddly, he felt like someone long before had been doing just this. He had absolutely no clue why.

As Leon threw the bomb plant, the skeleton smacks it away with it's shield. Which meant, Leon would have to immobilize both of them before he could use the bomb plants on them!

The two skeletons started to circle around Leon, all the while chuckling at him in a deep voice. They would take turns attacking him, while the other defended it's self, leaving little opening to counter attack.

Leon wondered if he could detonate it early, but it would be foolish to do so while so close. He wasn't an sword fighter but he did know his hand to hand, more importantly he had a notable physical advantage which gave him an idea.

While the circled and attacked, he waited for one to extend its sword arm, grabbing them close and off balance almost as a makeshift shield. That wasn't the plan though, as skeleton from before was slammed with Leon's buckler into the other one with inhuman strength.

Not wasting any moment longer, he rushed to the nearby bomb plant, and tossed at his enemies before they could hopefully recover.

One skeleton blocks the attack with it's shield, but the one Leon grabbed had fallen to pieces! The bomb flower lands next to the skeletons and one hunkers behind it's shield as the other starts to pull it's self back together.

But it doesn't get there as the bomb flower explodes! Sending pieces of bone and armor all over the place, which disappear in a puff of smoke, leaving only the steel shield and sword, and one pissed off skeleton knight.