Author's Note: I don't own any of the Zelda characters or games, Nintendo does. The characters and story I add are my own (no stealing!). Please read and review.
Chapter 7: Chasing Foes
"Not bad for my first time on one of these," I thought as I sped down the road. I was a little wobbly on the motorcycle, but being used to a bicycle helped a little. The van had headed towards the mall, and I figured that if the moblins had any sense, they would head for the freeway nearby, if the backed up traffic didn't prevent them that is.
"You mean you haven't used one of these things before?!?" Midna shrieked in surprise.
"I know the basic principles," I replied. I could see the van ahead, tilted at an angle because one side was on the sidewalk, headed for the freeway. Thankfully the traffic was at a standstill due to the panic, but I had to slow down to pick my way through the cars. "You'll have to take care of slowing the van down."
"Why me?" she asked in confusion.
"I can't use weapons at high speeds; I'll lose control," I explained. "You'll have to come out and hang on. And talk mentally; I can't hear you over the engine."
There was a pause before Midna answered. "The things I do for you." I felt her weight on my back as her arms and legs wrapped around me tightly.
"You're getting a taste of what it felt like for me to be in Hyrule. Not completely nice."
"You had it rougher than I thought." She paused and I felt her shift, her chin resting on my right shoulder. "So how do I stop that thing?" she asked as we watched the van head down the freeway on ramp.
"Take out the tires. It will come to a stop," I replied as I made it to a bike lane, speeding up with a twist of the gas.
"Tires? What part is the tires?"
I sighed and then laughed a moment. There was still so much she didn't know about our world that we took for granted. "The black parts of the wheels. My parents won't be happy, but… Anyway, hang on. It's time to catch up."
We reached the on-ramp and I twisted the gas harder, picking up speed fast as we got onto the city freeway. I dodged my way around the slower cars, my eyes locking on the van ahead. Fortunately and unfortunately, it was the middle of the day, so there weren't a lot of other drivers at that time. The moblins were smart enough to use the chance to speed up, and I did as well, glad for the clear view of them.
"I've always wanted to do a motorcycle chase," I thought as I kept after them, the gap between us slowly closing.
"And it's just as bad as the last time you said that," the twili on my back replied sharply. I chuckled because I knew she referred to the snowboarding on Snowpeak.
My breathing quickened as the distance between me and my mark closed. "Almost there…" My eyes widened as a moblin poked out of the side door of the van and threw something. I swerved; losing speed to give whatever it was a wide berth. This turned out to be a wise move as I felt the heat of an explosion, and a familiar one at that. "They're throwing bombs at us!" I said with a growl as I tried to regain the speed lost.
"I dare them to do it again," Midna growled as well, in no mood for shenanigans. "I'll throw it right back in their ugly faces."
"Not with my mom and sister in there," I replied tersely.
She snorted in disappointment and anger. "Cowards."
My anger soon matched hers as the hurled bombs continued to prevent me from catching up to them. I was moving all over the asphalt to avoid being blown to smithereens and Midna had to hurl a few skyward while I had to recover when the bike threatened to topple.
"Tyler, look ahead!"
My friend's call made me take my eyes off the van to look ahead, the sight causing me to inhale sharply. A wall of twilight stood in front of us, only a couple miles away. "They'll get away if they get in there!" I realized. I twisted the gas again, trying to keep from panicking as the chase became a race. "Come on… Come on!" I growled out loud, dodging another bomb as I desperately tried to gain ground. I continued to feed the engine gasoline even as the van neared the magical barrier.
"Stop, Tyler or we'll crash!" Midna shouted, the patterned orange wall looming large before us.
No… I couldn't let them get away with my family. But I wouldn't reach them in time. A second stretched into forever as I wrestled with my indecision. Exhaling, I squeezed the brake, skidding to a stop just a few feet from the wall. The van had already disappeared inside, having plowed through like the wall didn't exist.
"Damn!" I yelled, slamming my fist against the handlebar. "No hero…" I muttered. "Can't even protect my family."
"Oh quit being so emotional," Midna said, letting go of my back to hover in front of me. "Think about how you're going to get your family back instead of grieving."
I chuckled softly. She was as practical and pragmatic as ever. Being a queen apparently hadn't changed her much.
"Those things put out a nasty smell right?" the black and blue imp posited. "We go in and you follow them with your wolf nose. That thing has to stop sometime."
My mouth twisted as I tilted my head a little. I then opened my visor to speak normally. "Now there's an idea. You're fitting in here pretty well."
Her trademark giggle brought a smile to my face. "Thanks. I've learned to just go with things."
"I thought being a queen would change you. Apparently I was wrong."
She shrugged and then silently glided over to the wall of twilight. But instead of going through, she bumped against it. Our faces twisted in surprise as Midna tried a few more times to past the obstacle, but to no avail. "Damn that Zant. He's gotten smarter," she cursed.
"He must have figured out a way to block you this time," I said, voicing my thinking.
"He must have. Now what?" She crossed her arms, floating down to sit on the bike.
We started thinking, but not a minute had gone by before a sound cut though the air. Both of our heads snapped up and we looked around. I knew that sound. That wheeze. That laugh. Whatever sound it was that came from the throat of a certain madman. The wall rippled and the two of us looked up to see Zant emerge.
"Still up to your old tricks Midna?" he scoffed. "I see you found a new hero to assist. You've even managed to push back my twilight again. But no matter. Come, and I shall destroy you once and for all!" He floated through the air back the way we had come at a quick pace.
"Come back here!" Midna shouted. "I'll tear you apart!"
"She has changed. She's gotten vicious," I noted to myself, though my feelings were no different. "Let's go end this," I said before snapping shut the helmet visor, turning around on the road. Midna got back into my shadow as I rode on the shoulder, ignoring the blaring horns and curses of other drivers as we retraced our route. Zant stayed about a hundred yards ahead of us, not looking back, apparently confident that we were following. Then he turned, moving towards the mall back where the chase had began. I followed as best I could, my mood growing more irritated as the cars going the other way made me nervous. I could still hear gunfire and sirens, so I knew that the police had their hands full, but other than that, there didn't seem to be anyone else around. Glancing to my left, I saw Zant stop; just hovering over the mall's parking lot, where Midna and I soon joined him.
"I've had enough of you," Midna growled as she flew up to Zant's level. "First the Twilight Realm, then Hyrule, and now this world! But I'll stop you again. I'll always stop you."
I found myself wishing I could be up there with them, but all I could do was crane my head back to watch and strain my ears a little to hear them.
"Please," the usurper scoffed. "Once again you try to threaten me with your pathetic powers. While you may have improved since my defeat, so have I, as your current state will testify to."
"I still have enough power to destroy you," the queen replied. "Though I would like to know how you survived."
I heard a clink, which I assumed to be Zant's helmet opening so he could smile at her. "Since you have survived this long, I suppose I could indulge you. My god and I were still connected, even after I had passed on. But he had abandoned me to my fate. Me! His most loyal follower! When I felt him weakened by your hero's blows, I brought him into death with me. But even then, our connection was not severed. My god learned of my treachery and punished me severely." I might have imagined it, but the would-be king of shadows seemed to shiver at the memory. "But… the bonds of death were not as tight on me as they were on him. He found the power to thrust me back into the world of the living. I was broken and weak, but alive. While you rebuilt your kingdom, I rebuilt my body, along with a new army." His smirk returned, and I got a bad feeling from it. "I learned of ancient and powerful magic, which has made me much stronger. Perhaps someday I'll do what is necessary for my god to return to the living, but for now, I shall take this world as my own."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" I shouted up.
Both twili turned to look at me as if they had forgotten that I was there. Zant gave me a look of disdain. "You do seem to have a habit of picking defiant heroes," he said. "He even looks like the last one. But enough talk. It's time you both died."
"Then I'll take you with me!" Midna replied as her hair reached out to strike at him.
Then a hand, blacker than the darkest night, and very much like Midna's hair, appeared from behind Zant to grab her reaching magic. Her eyes and mine widened before the masked man pulled her in close by her hair, causing her to cry out in pain. I saw and heard him whispering something to her, but I couldn't make it out. I had to think for a minute before remembering the bow and arrows in my pack. I reached back and pulled the bow and an arrow out, fitting the shaft to the string. Having little upper body strength, pulling it taut was a challenge and made keeping my aim steady difficult. When I let go, I yelped in pain as the string grazed my arm. Worse yet, when I looked up the arrow had stopped dead in midair, just hovering a few feet from Zant.
"Inexperienced, but bold," he said in his ever wheezy tone. "Your companion is finally getting my attention, Midna. Let's see how he likes having it." Seeing the arrow turn around, I dove behind a car just in time for the arrow to smash against the ground I had been standing on.
I looked up in time to see him throw Midna at me, but she recovered and stopped herself as she got upright. "I won't rest until I end you and rid the world, all worlds, of you forever!" she called up to him.
While I couldn't see his face, it certainly seemed that Zant was no longer amused. "I made the mistake of toying with you last time. This time I shall take no chances. This time I shall use my full power to send you to the great beyond!" He floated back and up, lifting his arms as the lines on his twilight garb changed from blue to red. A red ball began to form, one that he had used in the Twilight Palace. He was summoning something. His voiced called out as the sphere grew in size. "In my research, I found out about fierce beasts that challenged the chosen hero of old." I inhaled and took a step back as the spell split into two equally sized balls. "If one is a challenge, then two should finish you both! Farewell, Queen of Twilight!"
Zant vanished as the two balls floated down to the road that circled the mall, one on each side of us. "Oh boy," I said as they took shape, quickly becoming two large four-legged forms. But they were different from each other. One was closer to the ground and wide. The other had long legs and looked bovine. "Oh no…" I said as I recognized them as the summoning finished. "Oh no, I know these two."
"You do?" Midna asked with a questioning look.
The two of them released a cry together, and there was no mistake about it. "The Hero of Time fought them and I have played both of those battles. The mechanical bull is Ghot and the giant lizard is King Dodongo."
Ghot started running and King Dodongo curled up and started rolling, both of them directed at us.
"Uh oh!" I jumped back on the motorcycle and kicked the engine back on, getting out of the way just before the two collided.
"How do we fight them?" Midna said, catching up to me once I came to stop to watch the two beasts struggle to disengage.
"I don't know. We don't have bombs or the right mask that the Hero of time had," I replied. "We can probably just bash Ghot until he breaks down, but I don't know how we'll do that. And we don't have bombs for Dodongo to swallow. Oh here they come." The two had gotten their act together and were heading for us! Midna dove into my shadow as I gassed the engine. I could hear metal bending and glass breaking as they tore up whatever cars had been left in the parking lot as they chased me.
"What about hitting the Dodongo's tail? It worked on the smaller ones," Midna suggested.
"I don't know if that would work. But we have to stop him fir-Whoa!" I ducked, even though it was too late, as a car went flying overhead to crash in front of us. I turned right hard, heading up a row.
"Leave that to me," she replied. "You keep them distracted."
"Great. I get to play bait," I thought sarcastically.
I heard her giggle in my mind and then caught a glimpse of her floating away to my left before I snapped my eyes forward again. I had to turn again as the lot ended at the perimeter road, which I started following counterclockwise. I could feel the vibrations caused by the movement of the two monsters. When I heard a crash behind me, I turned my head long enough to see King Dodongo being pushed off course by a car, which I assumed Midna hurled at him. Ghot was hit next, but it just stopped, stunned for a moment as sparks flew from its metal body.
The look on its face triggered something in my memory. I drove for Midna and she met me halfway. "What is it?" she asked. "I thought that was working."
"It is, but I thought of a less destructive method," I replied with a smile. "That bull is like a big goat, right?"
A look of understanding came to the imp's face, followed by a grin. "Right."
I got off the bike and felt the change as I assumed wolf form again. Ghot had recovered from the blow and turned to charge at us. It was as sparks appeared on his horns that I remembered a vital detail, and I jumped to avoid the bolt of electricity sent our way.
"Why didn't you tell me about that?" Midna asked sharply, her hands gripping my fur tightly as I dodged again.
"I forgot," I admitted sheepishly.
"Just keep still a moment," she said. The fact that Ghot was about to trample us didn't make her command any easier to follow, but I braced myself for impact. Midna grunted as her hair shot up to grab at the charging bull, and my paws slid across the hot asphalt as he was brought to a halt. With a yell, Midna pitched him sideways, putting the bull on his side with a loud clang, its legs waving uselessly in the air.
"Back to wolf form," I said. "My teeth won't pierce that metal hide."
"I have a better idea," Midna replied even as I changed back. She popped up beside me and gave me a serious look. "Try to get it to shoot electricity again. I can redirect it back at him."
"You have learned new tricks," I noted as I started running to get in front of Ghot's head. Even though it was dazed, I could see that he saw me. Steam hissed from its nostrils in anger and I saw the electricity build up on its horns again. My heart hammered as I got a light pole between me and it, hoping that it would act as a lightning rod if things went wrong.
I needn't have worried. The bolts flew through the air at me, only to curve up towards the sky, and then come back down into the android bull. There was much sizzling and popping and the smell of smoke hit my nose hard as Ghot jerked with spasms. When the lightning finally stopped, it gave a pained cry before collapsing.
I didn't even get to breathe a sigh of relief before the shaking ground got my attention. I turned around in time to see the large form of King Dodongo bearing down on me. I dove out of the way as he rolled by, crushing everything in his wake. "One down, one to go," I muttered. I got up and ran for the motorcycle as Midna rejoined me.
"So what's the plan for this guy?" she asked as the oversized lizard made a wide turn to come back our way.
"He breathes fire, maybe you could redirect that?" I suggested as I started the engine.
"They live in hot places; I don't think a little fire is going to bother him," Midna countered.
"Good point," I conceded. "Oh! Can you hold his mouth shut when he builds his fire up?"
"Probably, but what good will that do?"
"Just do it," I snapped as I gunned the motor, heading back for the road as King Dodongo followed. I knew he wouldn't roll forever, but I needed to find out how to break him out of it. I smirked as I got an idea and turned, heading up a row. "That's it…" I said to myself. "That's it, follow Tyler." I glanced back to make sure that he was still following me before turning again, now heading back the way we came. Another glance to reassure myself and then I turned once more. Ghot's corpse loomed in the road ahead as we charged up the row, and I smirked to myself. I hugged the right side to squeeze by the inert machine. Skidding to a stop, I looked back to see the rolling boss crash into Ghot, un-balling as it ended up on its back on top of its fallen ally. It wasn't stuck for long however and quickly rolled over and turned to face me. I got off the bike and drew the angular blade I had stolen as it began to inhale. "Now Minda!" I shouted in my mind.
The queen of shadows shot up from mine, sending her hair out to grab the top and bottom of its mouth to force it shut. It struggled for a moment but then its black eyes widened as a dull 'thud' resounded from its abdomen. Midna and I both shook off the shockwave as the beast went limp.
"Is it dead?" she asked as she looked at it.
"Nope," I said as I started running around to get to it. "Only stunned." As I came around to the side, I slashed at Dodongo's belly, cutting deep grooves in its scales, which oozed thick, hot blood. With a roar, the beast woke up and turned his head at me. "Yiii!" I exclaimed before running, heading through a median with trees in it. Hearing it inhale to set fire to the dry desert plants, I turned and shouted back at Midna. "Close its mouth again!"
She was already on it. Her orange hair lashed out to bind the jaws shut once more. A muffled roar escaped before a sick tearing sound filled the air. I moved to the other side of the trees to see that a hole had burst where I had been cutting, which was now spouting blood and fire as the force the creature had built up took the path of least resistance. Midna floated over to me as King Dodongo gave one last cry and then collapsed for the last time. "Ew," she said, the distaste clear in her voice. "Not how I would want to go."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Video games tend to gloss over the more violent parts to make them more kid friendly."
"For the sake of the children of your world, I'm glad that they do," she added.
