Chapter 5 The Castle Flirt

Chapter 5 - The Castle Flirt

Back bent, ropes feeling like they were biting into him, Link felt truly helpless, but the part of himself that told him to never give up had him struggling against his bonds as he was carried through the sky. Being high up didn’t bother him much, though without his glider he wasn’t exactly sure the effort to get free was his best option. The struggle did nothing other than make his muscles tired and sore as they moved to their destination. A dark gray stone castle that had its fair share of pits of fire and lava.

Over one of these very pits is where Link found himself when they reached the castle, inside a cylinder metal barred cage. Thrown to the floor inside of him the imprisoned man felt the cage sway on the chain that held it, giving him the impression that it could be dropped and leaving him to a fiery **** at any time. Looking out through the bar he could see the blue shell winged turtle tap his fist to a green shelled turtle's own in a celebratory manner.

“Yep.” The blue shelled koopa said, rocking back on his feet slightly. “Captured the Princess all on my own.” he said with pride. The bound young woman seemed to try and yell into her gag, he could only imagine what she was saying. “Yes, yes, I’m sure Mario will come try to save you, but by then King Bowser will have already taken you away. He can come and fight us, but you Princess will be in another castle.”

Yelling hadn’t been a good way to communicate, it even made Link’s throat feel a little raw. He was trying to tell the minion that he wasn’t the Princess or any Princess. Closing his heavy eyes, feeling drained he put his head down on the warm surface of the cage. Part of him thought to a cooking pot and hoped the cage with the lava under didn’t count as one or he would end up as a disgusting thing of food. His imagination made him picture a bone in slab of meat with a pink bow on it. With little else to do he just layed there, slipping off to sleep.

When Link woke up he didn't have some buff with more endurance or extra hearts or for that matter he didn’t have an endurance meter or hearts at all. Shifting uncomfortably, he felt the clothing he was wearing move with him, everything had been so new, raw before that he hadn’t really taken in the garments. His legs were hairless and the way his stockinged legs felt when rubbing up against one another sent a thrill through him. The material of all of his clothes, like the panties, even the long white gloves were all so much softer than what he would normally wear, they felt… kinda nice. Or at the very least a lot nicer than the ropes. ‘I need to get out of here.’ Link thought to himself, opening his eyes, turning his head to look out to the stone walkway that led up to his hanging prison, where he saw the green shelled koopa.

“Mmm, mmm, MMMM!” he cried out, not trying to say anything specific, just get the creature's attention. ‘If I can get him to open this cage I can… I can… do nothing. I’m still hogtied. What would Princess Peach do? What would Zelda do?’ The second question had him thinking of the woman he needed to save, but what she would do was lost on him. He knew Zelda, but it was starting to feel like the longer he was here with the Princesses profile the more of himself that was lost. ‘Peach would… get rescued, that isn't helpful… I’m a hero.’ While he told himself that he didn’t much feel like one. Trying to think of what to do, tied up, heeled feet stuck in the air while his arms were held behind him one dream-like memory came to him of something he saw back home. A classroom he had wandered into in Gerudo town, Voe and You. Where girls learned how to go out into the world and find a male and start a relationship. ‘Feminine wiles’ Link considered while staring intently at his prison guard.

Bending his knees slightly before straightening them out and bending them again the green shelled koopa guard moved in a rhythm. “Duba duba duba, duba duba duba.” he partly hummed and sang to himself. Only stopping when he felt like he was being watched in an uncomfortable way. Turning his head slightly he saw the Princess laying in her cage, not that she had much choice. Her blue eyes looking back at him intently, when his eyes met her she started to bat her long lashes. An act that made his heart flutter slightly, she was not just royalty she was beautiful. Princess Peach had been captured so often that more than a few koopa’s had gotten to know her or at least a little and not one had anything bad to say about her. A few koopa troopas had even been allowed to come join her and Mario in their recreational activities or even come to a party.

“Mmm, MMM!” Link jerked his head to the side a few times, attempting to get the short turtle like creature to come closer to the bars and utterly shocked that batting his lashes and smiling, not that it could see the smile with the gag was working.

“Do you need something?” the guard asked hesitantly. When he saw her nod yes emphatically he looked around to see if anyone was watching before reaching through the bars to pull her gag down. Pulling the gag down allowed him to see her pink glossy lips form into a sweet smile. ‘Gosh.’ his little koopa cheeks blushed.

“Thank you so much!” Link’s voice since the change had been something softer and as he spoke he made an extra effort to sound grateful and happy. “I knew the first time I saw you that you had a good heart, I don’t get to talk to many handsome koopas. Teehee!” The little girly laugh just seemed to sleep out on its own, making the situation mentally a bit more uncomfortable as he made an effort to change how physically comfortable he was.

“Me? Umm, thank you. I think… I think you are beautiful.” The green shelled koopa scuffed his shoe across the ground, lowering his gaze, feeling bashful.

“Oh my and a sweet gentleman in addition to being handsome. I feel lucky to have met you, but perhaps… no I shouldn’t trouble you.”

Looking back up the guard felt an almost palpable need to help the girl. “What do you need? I could maybe…” he looked behind himself, still not seeing any other guards coming that were on their steady paced patrol.

Batting his eyelashes again, adding a pout to his lips, Link felt his stomach churn. “I was just thinking, I have to stay here right?” He saw the short creature nod. “That means I’m a guest here and one happy to get to be near such a strong dedicated koopa. The problem is, I’m not being really treated like a proper guest am I?”

“Well.” The koopa swallowed his saliva. “You are a prisoner, but you are here so I guess you are a ah, guest.”

Nodding his head as he craned his neck up, a position that was causing some strain on his body, Link pressed on to the less than intelligent man. “Well I already have a room, here that I’m in and I can’t get out of it because it is a cage, so why am I tied up? Would you tie up a guest in your own home?”

Running his yellowed skinned hand over his bald head the koopa shook his head in agreement with her. “Well, I guess, no.”

‘How is this working?’ Link thought, amazed at how some of the lessons from that classroom were working to enthrall him. “I’m glad you agree to untie me.” It felt like Link was pushing his luck too much, the guard looking like he was about to disagree. “And of course, I would give my savior a kiss to thank him. Unless… You don’t want to kiss me.” He tried to sound sad about the prospect, as his skin crawled at the thought. Whatever the shelled creature's thoughts were before at the mention of getting a kiss he jumped into action, unlocking the cage and hopping in and starting to untie him.

Standing up and stretching his sore body, Link didn’t have to pretend to be happy now that he had found his freedom. Knowledge slipped into his mind, training the real Princess Toadstool got, someone telling her how a proper Princess always smiles, how she needed to always look presentable and hide her true thoughts. “Now to reward my hero.” Bending over Link took the koopa’s head in his hands and planted a kiss on the top of his head and was positive he literally saw a red heart drift up from him and into the sky before vanishing.

“Happy to help Princess.” the green shelled koopa said with a bashful smile.

“Now that you have helped me I just need to head off to use the powder room and…” Link took a step closer to the open cage door when he felt the things grip on his wrist.

“I’m afraid you have to stay here, but don’t worry, I will be here with you.”

As nice as that offer was, Link didn’t want to take the thing up on it. He had to escape, free himself and get back to Brawl. “Aww, you are such a cutey, but I am a guest and you wouldn’t tell a guest they can’t go tinkle and powder their nose would you?” The smile almost faltered on his face as what he said, or specifically how he phrased what he wanted to say came out. ‘Did I say tinkle?’ Not wanting to give him the chance to answer on his own, Link touched his gloved hands on either side of its face, manually shaking his head gently. “You stay right here, that way I know where to find you, my cute little guard, that way you know I will come right back!”

Watching Princess Peach hop out of the cage the smitten guard waved as she left. “Okay, I will be right here for you… Oh, Oh! I almost forgot! I didn’t tell you my name, it is Moreese!”

Moving down the stone path, the heat from the pit waning, Link felt a wave of exhilaration for talking his way out. As soon as he was out of sight of Moreese he spun around on the balls of his feet before hopping into the air with a cheer and a giggle, before stilling himself. He wasn’t against showing emotion, or celebrating a job well done but how he had just done it had been wrong. ‘I need to get out of here.’