2 for 1! I own nothing!
Chapter 2: A Treasure Hunt and A Jailbreak
Monday, 07:30, Mt. Power
Ashei slid down the mountainside until she came to a misty landing. Looking around, she tried to feel for the familiar energy that the Triforce had given off in her presence for many a month.
Blast that cursed mage! She thought, annoyed. I'd have seen Ganondorf coming a mile away if it hadn't been for him, yeah! Her eyes suddenly flicked to a spot below, where she thought she felt something. Hmm…could that be a piece? She jumped off the landing and surfed down the mountainside, eventually coming to a pile of rocks on a lower landing. Yes, I think that one might be here. She aimed a bomb arrow, after retreating a bit, and blew the pile of rubble to pieces. A golden glow from the revealed hole indicated that she was correct in her assumptions. Walking over, she picked up the jagged, glowing fragment and put it in her belt pack. I still feel more around here…She looked around some more, uttering a sigh, and set off along the ledge. After some more sliding descent, she landed in the snowy fields at the bottom. There! She headed over to a mound of snow, where she felt some Triforce energy. As she drew near, though, a large White Wolfos burst out with a howl. She grimaced and jumped back as it tried to slash her with its front claws. Pulling out her bow, she lodged several bomb arrows in the monster, blowing it to pieces and leaving a golden, glowing fragment in the bloody remains. Ashei retrieved the miraculously unmarred piece and stowed it away. Still sensing more pieces, she continued along the icy field, eventually coming to an area full of what looked like frozen geysers. As she passed them, looking around, she spotted a golden glow from inside one of them. Firing a fire arrow, she thawed the geyser and the force of its spout sent the piece flying a little ways before the flow froze again. After retrieving the third piece, Ashei looked up at the mountain that she had been lead to. Great…there's some up there, too. She mentally grumbled, approaching the wall, and grabbing hold of the rough rock.
A while later, she finally came to a landing and sat down for a break, breathing a bit more heavily than usual. What a climb… she looked at the nearby mountainside. Huh? I'm feeling a piece in there. She stood reluctantly and fired a bomb arrow at the wall, opening a hole and releasing a golden glow. Grabbing the piece, she stowed it away. As she did so, though, she heard a rumbling. Looking up, she saw the snows above shifting and coming her way. Oh, Goddesses, avalanche! She shot several fire arrows, managing to melt most of the snow, but now a tidal wave was coming her way. She quickly jumped off of the landing and surfed to the bottom. Once there, she started running. Fortunately, the water froze as it reached the bottom. "Whew…" she wiped her forehead. I never thought I'd be so happy that it's too cold around here…She shivered. Speaking of which…She pulled out her parka and donned it, not quite sure why she hadn't done this earlier. A golden gleam caught her attention from near the frozen wall of water. She jogged over to it. Well, what do you know? The avalanche brought two pieces to me. She smiled at the irony and put them away. Feels like these are the last ones here. She looked around again. Guess it's time to go somewhere else. With that, she headed off towards where she sensed a faint signal of more Triforce fragments.
Tuesday, 06:36, Desert Prison and Vicinity
Lucius, Romani, and even Zlon, hadn't been able to see to get through the sandstorm of the previous day, and had had to hunker down in a cave. It was normal for sandstorms to blow up unannounced in the Gerudo Desert, but that didn't make them any less inconvenient.
"It seems to have died down," Zlon commented, pulling his head back into the cave. They had just had breakfast, courtesy of Lucius's preparedness, and were, now ready to head to the prison. Extraditing themselves from the partially blocked cave, scattering sand in the process, they stood in the morning sun.
"Well, what do you know, the Desert Prison wasn't far at all from here," Lucius pointed out the large stone structure. It was surrounded by tall walls, topped with razor wire, and guards normally paced atop them, as well as in the grounds. The structure, itself, was tall, with narrow windows for, presumably, the cells. The main entrance to the compound was a large, steel gate, but it was down in ruin, from what they could see.
"It looks like something happened over there," Romani pointed out, seeing the smoke rising from the area and hearing a distant explosion.
"I think you're right," Zlon agreed, kicking the nearby dirt in an attempt to find their boat. Lucius tapped his staff in the sand and the boat rose out, upside down, and turned over, stopping in front of them to allow boarding. Zlon looked a little embarrassed, but got on and the boat soared over to the prison quickly. They set down on top of the walls, noting the destruction of the area.
"We should try to stay low until we figure out what is going on," Lucius suggested as they disembarked. Heading down some nearby stairs, they found the courtyard in great disarray. Many soldiers were dead by burn marks or brutal indents that were, likely, made by superhuman punches.
"This is terrible…" Romani moaned, looking away.
"I'd say that this is the work of Ganondorf," Lucius commented as another explosion took place on the other side of the complex. "I'm going after him,"
"I'll go get the key and rescue Link," Zlon volunteered. "I'm the one with the skills,"
"Go ahead," the mage nodded. "Romani?" She looked at him. "What will you do?"
"I'll help you," she said determinedly. "I can't just let people die like this,"
"Okay, then! See ya!" Zlon took off into the complex, via the destroyed main door.
"Let's go!" Lucius ran off to where the fighting was still taking place.
"Yeah!" Romani sprinted after him.
The Gerudo sprinted down the corridor, passing several downed guards in the corridor, some with sword wounds and missing body parts, some with burns from magic, but, apparently, a few were still alive, as they came out of some of the side doors.
"Stop!" they shouted, attacking with their spears. Zlon whipped out his scimitars and deftly batted the attacks aside, aiming kicks at their faces and taking them out with their impacts with the wall. Continuing down the corridor, he stopped briefly at a map. Seeing that the head warden's office was on the third level, he took off down the corridor to the left.
"Hey!" some guards shouted as a lift stopped to his right. They disembarked and attacked, but Zlon threw a smoke bomb in their faces. "Ahh!" they rubbed their eyes and looked around for the Gerudo, but he had already gotten on the lift.
"See ya, guys!" he taunted, pulling the rope quickly and ascending the lift.
"Blast!" they called after him. Zlon chuckled. However he quickly stopped, as raising the lift was taxing his strength. Hey, he was a speed fighter, not a power one.
"Ganondorf!" Lucius exclaimed as they found him laughing and firing energy balls periodically at a fortification that some guards were hiding behind. The dark sorcerer turned to face them.
"Ah! Are you here to save green boy?" he mocked, floating in midair.
"That's none of your business!" Romani snapped. "Why are you hurting people like this?"
"That's none of your business," he smirked evilly. "But you won't be here much longer, regardless of our reasons!" He fired a series of energy balls at the duo. They each dodged to a side. Romani released a volley of arrows while Lucius fired a light bolt. The Gerudo King blocked the arrows with his Cape Shield and flew backwards to avoid the light bolt.
"Din's Flare!" he shot a fireball at Lucius.
"Shield!" the mage projected a spherical barrier just as he was engulfed in a giant, fiery explosion. Ganondorf laughed derisively until a light arrow caught him in the side.
"Agggggh!" he roared as light crackled all over his body. Romani aimed a second light arrow, but he burst out of his shock with a grunt and flew up to avoid it, allowing it to burst against the wall of the courtyard.
"Divine Lightning!" Lucius cried out, emerging from the cloud of dust as Ganondorf began to descend, wreathed in purple flames, foot extended.
"Blast!" he barely dodged the spell as he canceled his Warlock Dive, but half of his cape went flying in slivers. A large explosion blinded them, briefly, as the bolt struck the ground.
"Urgh…" he grunted. "Curse you two…" He raised his hand and gathered dark energy into a ball. Lucius prepared himself while Romani aimed another Light Arrow. "Black Hole!" He hurtled the attack at them as the arrow was fired.
Zlon finally arrived at the third level and put the lock on the lift's pulley. Panting, he disembarked and looked down the corridor to his right and left.
"Let's see…" he thought back to the map. "That way!" He set off at a slower pace while he caught his breath. By the time he did, he was close to his destination and several guards spotted him as they guarded the office.
"You, stop!" one shouted. He threw a smoke bomb at them and quickly knocked them out. Entering the office, he found the warden absent, but his keys were still hanging on their hooks at the back of the room. Grabbing the one with the 'Master' tag, he turned to peruse the map on the wall to his right.
"Link…Link…" he looked over the labels. "Aha! There!" he pointed to the marked box. "Maximum Confinement, 3rd level," He took off out the office door, coming to the secured door of thick steel, quickly enough. He placed the master key in the keyhole under the big, red letters that read 'Maximum Confinement', and the door opened easily.
"You're not allowed in here!" an Elite Guard shouted. His four mates, regular guards, came at Zlon. He easily flipped over their attacks and KO'd them. The Elite Guard growled and hurled his ball and chain at the Gerudo thief. He dodged it and threw a smoke bomb at his face. He coughed on the smoke as Zlon jumped deftly behind him and punted him in the back, forcing him to fall down. Stuck like a turtle, all he could do was curse as Zlon continued down the row.
Link was agitatedly pacing in his cell, but paused when he heard a scuffle down the hall.
"Who could that be?" he muttered.
"Heya, Link!" Zlon came into view.
"Zlon?" his eyebrows raised. "What are you doing here?"
"What? No thank you?" the thief mock-pouted. "And I went to all the trouble to do this, by myself, while Romani and Lucius have all the fun with Ganondorf!"
"Ganondorf's here?" Link demanded as Zlon unlocked the cell door.
"Yep," the Gerudo replied. "But he can't have done all the damage I've seen in the complex,"
"I'll bet it was that double of me!" Link exclaimed.
"Double?" Zlon repeated blankly. "I didn't see one…"
"I'll find him!" Link started down the hall, ignoring the stuck ES. "You go tell the others,"
"Right…" Zlon said as the hero retrieved his gear from the head warden's office. "You're welcome…" he added as the green hero took off.
The arrow pierced the ball of energy and struck Ganondorf. He screamed in agony, light jumping all over his body, as Lucius fired another bolt of light at him. Breaking out in time, he dodged.
"Ugh…I'm done here!" he took off over the walls.
"Coward!" Romani called after him.
"Let's go and see how Zlon is faring," Lucius suggested, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Fine…" she relented, allowing herself to be led to the main entrance. As they arrived, Zlon came running to meet them.
"I freed Link," he reported. "But he seemed to think that there was a doppelganger of him around here,"
"A Doppelganger?" Lucius repeated, eyebrows raised a bit.
"I've seen the inside, and I think that Ganondorf has accomplices," Zlon continued. "We should check, regardless of who it is," He turned and led them inside.
Link dashed down the stairs and onto the second floor. The search of the third one hadn't revealed a thing, so, maybe, something was here. Sure enough, he saw Knil at a major support pillar, at the innermost part of the floor.
"I found you, Fake!" he declared, pointing dramatically. Knil turned, scowling.
"Fake? I think that you're the Fake around here!" he scoffed, drawing his sword.
"Heh, I'll make you eat those words," Link drew his sword and shield.
"I won't play games this time," Knil warned. "You won't even get a chance," He fired a volley of energy balls. Link dodged the explosions and countered with several fireballs. Knil ran forward, dodging, and took a swing at Link. He jumped over the swing and kicked him in the face, causing him to stagger, and took a downward swing. Knil dodged out of the way and jumped backwards. "Anti-Energy Cannon!" An iridescent beam tore through the room, blowing out part of the entire level. Link countered by ambushing him while the beam was firing. The doppelganger turned to the side, only suffering damage to his sleeve, and kicked Link in the side of the head. Catching himself quickly with a handspring, the hero regained his feet in time to block a hard sword blow. The blade and shield bounced away from each other, giving both an opening. Energy blasts and fireballs struck each other with colorful explosions as the two took a few simultaneous swipes at each other, sending sparks flying as the blades rang from the impact. Flipping backwards, Knil fired more energy blasts at Link. He rolled around them and Back Sliced at Knil. He disappeared in a flash of blue light and reappeared a couple of yards away. Both breathed a little heavier, but they still had plenty of energy left.
"Knil! What are you doing?" Ganondorf's voice scolded from a glowing stone that hung from the alter ego's belt by a leather cord. "This place is about to blow up with you in it!"
"Blow up?" Link repeated. Knil grimaced and put his sword away. Wordlessly, he dashed out through the hole that his A-E Cannon had made. Link sprinted for the stairs and made it to the first floor in little time.
"Link!" Romani called, running ahead of Lucius and Zlon, as they spotted him. "I'm so glad to see you! Did you-"
"No time!" the hero interrupted. "I was just fighting Knil and Ganondorf told him that his place is about to blow up!"
"Let's get outta here, then!" Zlon exclaimed, running for the exit.
"What about the soldiers?" Romani asked, with a frown.
"The few that are left will have to escape of their own accord," Lucius said gravely. "Come!" he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out with Link bringing up the rear. Once outside, he tapped his staff on the sandy ground. His boat came flying down, Zlon aboard, and stopped in front of them.
"Come on! I don't want to die!" Zlon whined. "There's still too much I haven't stolen!"
"Suck it up!" Link retorted, not in a good mood at the moment. The boat rocketed upwards as Lucius grabbed the tiller and they were, soon, soaring away. The other three turned as a series of explosions rocked the prison, blowing out large chunks, and then a large cloud of dust was thrown up as the rest of it collapsed. They turned slowly back to the front, grim.
"Ganondorf…" Link looked at his clenched fist. "You'll pay for this,"
Poor shallow Zlon. He's a good guy, but doesn't take things seriously. Will Ganondorf be gotten for his foul deed? Will he attempt more? What is his plan? Well, you won't find out until the next chapter! :) R&R