I'll be honest. I kind of forgot abour Issun while writing this chapter. I didn't mean to make any inconsistencies in this story, so I hope you guys can forgive that. Enjoy.

-o-

Ninetails stood with his nine dark tendrils swishing behind him. Amaterasu glared at the demon while Link drew out the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield. The sun goddess didn't let that go unnoticed. She didn't know if she could help at all. Without her powers, she was weak and helpless. But as she reminded herself that she was powerless, a thought crossed her mind. If Ninetails was in a human form as well, then how could he use his own brush powers?

"Ninetails," Ammy said as she crouched slightly, ready to move at a moment's notice. "What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sure you know that I can't use my powers in this form. What about you?"

Ninetails raised an eyebrow at her. He began chuckling, then reared his head back, laughing as if the former she-wolf had just told the funniest joke in the world. When he faced them again, he said, "Do you really even have to ask? I'm a kitsune, genius! My race can transform into humans at will! I've been able to use my powers in a human form even when I had just one tail!" He raised a hand, grinning ominously. "Observe."

Suddenly, eight of the nine tendrils struck out at them, four heading for Link, and four heading for Amaterasu. On instinct, Link managed to leap away and slash at one of shadowy tails, the Master Sword's holy powers easily cleaving the demonic aura. Amaterasu just had to settle for evasion, instinctively sidestepping and jumping over each strike. Then the ninth tendril appeared in front of her. Before she could react, the dark aura wrapped itself around her and began to squeeze. She couldn't breathe. The tail was crushing her. She could hear and feel her ribs cracking under the pressure.

But before the life was crushed out of her, Link quickly severed the tail, causing the tendril to fade into nothing. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath. She nodded her thanks to the green-clad hero, who eyed her with some level of surprise.

She's a goddess, he thought. But she wasn't able to break free from that guy's grip. Can she… die? As he thought this, he heard Ninetails clapping slowly. The young hero glared at the demon, who had an amused smirk on his face.

"I'm impressed, Hylian," he said darkly. "And I don't say that very often. You managed to sever my aura tails. That alone is deserving of praise. I'll tell you what: leave now, and I might let you go. All I really want is to kill the goddess."

Link scowled at the fox demon. Was this guy really that dense? "Do you honestly think that I'll take you up on that offer? I'm not going to abandon Amaterasu! I need her to help save my homeland!"

"And she needs you to help save hers," Ninetails stated simply. Both Link and Amaterasu gave him confused looks. "Oh, didn't I tell you? To save one land, you'll both have to be there at the same time!" At that, their eyes widened with dark realization. "Yami in Hyrule. Ganondorf in Nippon. You'll only be able to save one of these two lands. You'll have to sacrifice the other!"

"I'm not sacrificing Hyrule!" Link shouted at the exact same moment that Amaterasu shouted, "I'm not sacrificing Nippon!" The two heroes both stared at each other with wide eyes, making Ninetails laugh sadistically.

"I see that there's going to be some disagreement between you two," the demon said cruelly. "Don't worry though. Neither of you will live to meet that choice!" His remaining seven tails struck out, but both Link and Ammy leaped away just before the shadows could hit them. The tails crashed into the ground, sending debris up into the air.

Link raised his shield as one tendril flew towards him. The virtually indestructible metal of the Hylian Shield managed to hold off the tail, but the dark aura pushed him back several feet before it finally receded, and another tail was able to attack him from behind. The tendril slammed into his back, making him cough up blood as another tail crashed into his chest, causing several ribs to crack and others to break. He was then knocked away by another tail. The green-clad hero skidded along the ground before stopping and lying motionless.

"Link!" Amaterasu shouted before a tail slammed into her own chest, sending her flying and crashing through a tree before her body crashed into a large boulder. Needless to say, it was a painful experience. She fell to the ground, groaning in pain as Ninetails approached her, an evil smirk still on his face.

"You're so naïve for a so-called goddess," he said as he crouched over her, an arrogant look in his eyes. "You're so hopeless. You no longer have power. You are no longer 'divine.' You're only human now. Nothing more. And even if you could somehow regain your power, there's no way you could save Hyrule or Nippon. So why bother? Why not just give into the darkness? It's your only hope for survival, Amaterasu."

The sun goddess looked up at him with a glare, but for some reason, deep down inside… she thought that he may be right. It's obvious that she and Link would never be able to overcome two of the greatest evils in the world. Maybe the darkness really was an unstoppable force. "I…" She couldn't think of anything to say. A part of her wanted to stop resisting, to see what the inside of the darkness was like.

"Do not surrender, Amaterasu," a group of voices spoke in her mind all at once. She recognized the voices. They belonged to her fellow Brush Gods. "The path of light is rife with hardship. But you have walked it since the dawn of time, and all have benefitted because of it. Do not give in to the darkness. It will do nothing for you or anyone. Fight on, Amaterasu! Bring light to those who shun it! Rain justice upon the wicked and save the innocents of the world! We have given you all of our strength, and we now beseech you to use it! Vanquish the dark ones!"

With that, Amaterasu enveloped in an explosion of pure white light, catching Ninetails completely off guard. The demon shielded his eyes as he backed away from the light. He could sense immense power coming from that light.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded. Soon, the light faded, revealing a restored Amaterasu. She was still in her human form, but Ninetails could plainly see that she had regained her godly powers. "What? How? How did you regain your power!?"

Amaterasu didn't answer his question. Instead, she raised her hand up into the air and said, "Tachigami…" Ninetails couldn't have predicted what happened next. "Power Slash." She swung her hand down in a perfect vertical line. A flash of light appeared and vanished instantly. A vertical tear suddenly appeared in Ninetails' kimono, followed by a veritable geyser of blood.

The demon shrieked in shock and leaped away, covering his open flesh with both hands in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He stared at the sun goddess in shock and even a little awe. There was a divine glow surrounding her, like some sort of barrier or something. He sneered in utter contempt.

"This isn't it, Amaterasu!" he shouted as he somehow began to sink into his own shadow. "Don't think that I'm afraid of you! I'll be back with even more power soon enough! The darkness will consume everything!" And with that, he was gone.

Amaterasu sighed as the light surrounding her faded. She looked at the palm of the hand she had used Power Slash with. At least now she wasn't totally defenseless. When she stopped mulling over all of that, she hurried over to where Link was lying on the ground.

She took a relieved breath as she checked his pulse. He was just unconscious. Still, she had to do something to help him recover. Suddenly, Issun leaped out her dress… he had been hiding in her cleavage. She gawked at the Poncle.

"That was a nice nap!" he said as he stretched while standing Link's chest. The wandering artist then noticed the young hero's condition. "Hey, what happened!?" He turned to Ammy, but stepped back in fear as she gave him a glare of absolute rage.

"Issuuuuun," she said ominously. "Why were you sleeping in my dress?"

"Uh…" the Poncle couldn't think of a good excuse. He instead just went for the first thing that popped into his mind. "Because… you're so… comfy?"

I need not explain what happened next.