Ignored like a lantern-less Poe. Link sighed and ran a hand through his bangs. "I guess they didn't, then."
"Oh, they did." Midna had paid slightly more attention to him than the others had. "Those're the egg-shaped pink things, right?" She pointed past them at the wide trench of destruction that had been carved through the city. "A couple of them came with us, but they fell behind. The rest stayed at City Hall."
Link arched an eyebrow at her. "Why? What's at City Hall?" He had a sinking feeling...the trench looked like it came from that direction.
Midna confirmed his fears in an emotionless voice. "The center of it all. The place is a mess, everything is destroyed."
"...Well crap. That's, uh...that's bad."
Link didn't know what else to say beyond that somewhat lame observation. City Hall was the seat of government for Smash City. If it was the target for this attack, then they were dealing with terrorists. Very powerful, very well-equipped, very amoral terrorists.
Link hadn't really planned to be protecting a city from a politically-motivated attack when he woke up that morning. He sighed, brushing his bangs again. How'd he always wind up in these messes? Was it just bad luck?
"Any casualties?" He asked. His voice was dulled and he sounded quite tired.
Midna kept her eyes on the ground. She, too, was wondering how trouble always seemed attracted to them. "None that I saw. But I didn't really stay there that long, and there were a LOT of ambulances..."
Link gritted his teeth. "You know what? After this vacation, I'm taking another one."
"Why wait?" Midna grabbed his arm suddenly. Her face looked as serious as when she'd faced down Zant in the Twilight Palace, and Link found himself staring at it in surprise as she continued, "There are already a ton of people doing damage control, Link. You're not really needed here. We should leave before something
else goes wrong."
"What?” Link couldn't believe his ears. “Just...leave all these injured people behind? Are you nuts?" He frowned. "If it was ME in one of those piles of rubble, you'd go
ballistic!"
"And I thought you WERE in one of those piles up until I found you just now!" Midna growled back, tightening her grip. "I'm not letting you walk headfirst into danger again! Let's just get out of here, I don't even care where we go, back to the forest if that's what you really want. Just anywhere but here."
Her voice faltered and dropped to a whisper. “
Please...”
"..."
Well, she'd struck him speechless. Not that this was a particularly hard task for Link, but still.
Midna, begging him to take her
away from civilization and all of its creature comforts? That was so anathema to what he'd come to expect from the imp that he had no idea how to react. Everything had taken on a nonsensical tinge, and for one disorienting moment Link didn't know which way was up. Was he actually dreaming right now? Maybe that laser blast had knocked him out, and none of this was real.
Midna's grip brought him back down to earth. It was tight enough to hurt, and the pain reminded him that yes, this was real. He was not dreaming.
"...Geez, Midget. I didn't know you cared." He said in a gentle voice, smiling softly.
Midna's eyes narrowed dangerously as she scowled at him. "I told you never to call me that."
"I know." He was still smiling. Midna's tone was threatening, but the threats were empty and they both knew it. She really had been worried about him, and he was touched.
He took one more look around at the destroyed city, then shrugged. "Okay, let's get out of here."
Pause.
"...Wait, really?"
It was Midna's turn to be confused, staring at the Hylian with a mixture of caution and surprise. This was the first time Link had given in to one of her demands without a fight, and she was almost afraid to believe it.
"Yeah, you're right - the Chanseys can handle things from here. This is the kind of situation they're trained for, after all." He turned to give her a winning smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Master Hand will be fixing this place up good as new before tomorrow morning."
Midna slowly released her grip on Link, and floated up to her usual spot next to his shoulder. She still didn't quite believe this was happening, but a smile to match his was forming on her face.
“...Really? Seriously?...” The smile broke into a grin. “Okay then. Let's go."
"Well...” Link hesitated a bit, glancing back at the red-armored Reploid behind them, before turning back to Midna. “Hang on, there's one last thing."
He turned and walked up to Zero, holding out one of his hands for the Reploid to shake. "Hey Zero, it was nice meeting you. Sorry I can't stick around, but my partner here thinks I should get back to the vacation I'm supposed to be having right now. I gotta agree.” He glanced at the trench that cut through the street and into the mall behind them. “It pains me to admit it, but there's nothing more I can do from here. That Koopa lady and X called the local hospital and they should be dispatching a medical team as we speak. They'll be able to handle things from here on in.”
He paused, a metaphorical light bulb clicking on above his head. “Although, come to think of it...hey Midna, would it be okay if he came with us?”
“Eh? Well, hmm...” A troubled look passed over the imp's face. She'd been looking forward to some quality time alone with her traveling partner, but couldn't come up with a good excuse that didn't make her sound incredibly petty and selfish. “I don't know,” She stalled, giving a show of mulling it over as she scrutinized Zero from the corner of her eye. “He looks like he attracts just as much trouble as you do.”
Link snorted. “Don't worry about that, he'd be able to handle it. Wait 'till you see his sword, it's amazing.”
Before she could come up with another argument, Link had already turned back to address the reploid again. “What do you think, Zero? Up for some traveling?”
"Yeah, pretty sure. You think he's faking it?"
An amused smirk crossed Midna's face. "So he's...an honorable demon? Could've fooled me, the way he's treating his serfs..."
Meanwhile... Zero was just... confused. And was starting to get a headache. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he watched this kid in shorts yelling at... stuffed penguins apparently, while this imp-looking thing floated up to Link and started chatting him up. 
The prinnies in question... were still convinced something was wrong with Laharl.
"...." ETNA
"Chu?" The Pok?mon simply looked confused at his companion, what was he planning?