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Wind darted through the fray, slashing at a bokoblin before it could drive its sword into Twilight’s back. It howled, whipping around to face him, and Wind took the opportunity to stab it again. The monster fell, black blood streaming from its wounds, and Wind quickly killed it before he turned in search of anything else to fight.
The Chain had been following reports of a group of monsters that had caused a traveling group to disappear and had come across a few bokoblins, chuchus, and a moblin that all had black blood. Warriors and Legend had wasted no time in throwing their boomerangs, causing most of the chuchus to burst. The ones left alive were quickly taken care of by Wild, who’d drawn his bow. Time and Sky had gone after the moblin, leaving the rest of the Chain to pick off the bokoblins.
Wild had quickly put away his bow and drawn a sword, charging to meet the monsters head- on. Twilight had been quick to follow him to cover his back. Hyrule and Legend had followed, the Vet whipping out his fire rod. Warriors was fighting one that had tried to attack Time, sword flashing as he fought with elegant precision. That left Wind and Four, who were darting in wherever they were needed.
Before long, all of the monsters had been killed.
“Is everyone alright?” Time called, eyes scanning over the group as he performed a routine headcount. Hyrule started to check each member of the Chain for injuries as they started to clean and put away their weapons. Wind stretched his arms above his head, feeling the rush of battle fade away.
A scream echoed from the trees, and Wind was instantly frozen in place. He knew that scream, horror beginning to swirl in the pit of his stomach.
“REDEADS!” Legend managed to shout before he, too, was frozen with another scream. Another rang out, freezing Twilight and Warriors.
The redeads slowly shuffled out from the trees. There were about 5, all having moved to circle the Chain. Trapping them. Wind saw the rest of the Chain’s faces shift to horror. They’d encountered a redead once before, and Time had warned them about what they did. He’d burned it from a distance, Legend warning them to never let it get close. Wind knew firsthand just how terrible the monsters were.
Sky tried to swing at one, only to be frozen mid-lunge. Time reached into his bag and pulled out a mask. Wind had never seen this one before: it was constructed with strips of off-white fabric, two hooded eyes staring from gaps in the wrappings. He placed it on his face and the redeads immediately stopped advancing. Wind watched in disbelief as they started to pirouette, gracefully spinning in perfect synchronization.
Wind unfroze, gaping at the sight of the redeads. “What the fuck?” Legend unfroze next, a look of pure bafflement on his face.
“Language!” Warriors called as he and Twilight were unfrozen, the latter looking more confused than Wind had ever seen him.
Sky unfroze, falling flat on his face before scrambling to his feet. For a moment, the Chain just stood there, trying to process what they were seeing. The redeads started breakdancing. Wild started to laugh, and the dam broke.
Wind started howling with laughter, collapsing on the ground as tears streamed down his face.
“What the fuck?” Legend reiterated, gasping for breath. He tried to say something else, but it was lost to laughter. Warriors was too busy trying and failing to stay composed, whole body shaking. Wild had joined Wind on the ground, closely followed by Four. Sky was clutching at a stitch in his side, and Twilight looked like he was having trouble remaining upright as they both laughed. Time just stood there, mask still in place.
It took quite a while for the Chain to settle down enough to be able to focus on the fact that there were still dangerous enemies encircling them, even if they were a bit...distracted.
“Set them on fire,” Time instructed. “They won’t attack back as long as I’m wearing this mask.” He frowned. “Or, at least, they shouldn’t. We may want to take precautions.” The redeads switched the dance again, performing the Macarena. Wind, Wild, and Sky started laughing again, while Legend tried and failed to hide a snicker.
Warriors started to sneak his way out of the circle, cautious not to touch any of the monsters. The rest of the Chain followed suit, and before long they were all standing safely outside of the ambush. The redeads took the opportunity to form a kickline.
“Legend, will you do the honors?’ Time asked, voice not betraying any amusement he might be feeling. Legend, still recovering from the sheer absurdity of what was happening, grabbed the handle of his fire rod. It took him a bit to aim; he was still shaking from barely contained laughter. The redeads went up in a blaze, continuing to dance until they crumbled into ash. Time removed the mask, face as stoic as ever.
The Chain looked at each other. And burst out laughing all over again.
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Later that night, they asked Time about the mask.
“It’s something I received on one of my adventures.” He turned the mask over in his hand. “it’s called the Gibdo mask.”
Wild, Legend, and Hyrule startled at the name.
“I did consider making a dance group, but...” Time trailed off. “It didn’t quite work out.” Wind reached for it. “Can I use it?”
“No.”
“You’re no fun, old man.”