Chapter Nine

As Marth continued to fight off endless Stalfos, he found that his body was starting to tire. Marth was knocked back by multiple Stalfos, barely able to defend from the attacks. One more Stalfos slammed its body against Marth, sending him to the ground. Marth was too tired to continue, but attempted to get up, as the Stalfos gathered around him, raising their swords.

Mewtwo watched, yelling in thought speech, "NOW!!!" The Stalfos froze in their tracks, hearing a shrill bird cry. A large bird flew over the battlefield, with the Kirby chief riding on its back. The bird, known as Dyna Blade, swooped over the Stalfos forces, cutting through the forces with its talons. It also picked Marth and co. up, flying them from the battlefield. Marth fell to the ground, as Zelda kneeled next to him, using her healing magic on Marth. "Come on...Please be okay..." Marth didn't move.

Roy was silent for a moment. Zelda stopped, looking at Marth's unmoving body. "Why won't he move?" Roy then raised the Sword of Seals, as Zelda stared at him. "Roy, what are you doing!"

Roy sent his sword down, smacking Marth hard on the head with it. Marth screamed out in pain. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Zelda blinked. "Wow. He's okay." Roy grinned proudly. "Always works!" Marth cursed under his breath, but then his head snapped toward the battlefield, seeing Ganondorf charging up another attack. "Shoot! He's gonna shoot the bird down!" The large black ball of dark magic grew, splitting apart into thousands of smaller attacks, most shooting Dyna Blade. Dyna Blade let out a shrill cry, falling down from the sky, to the side of the battlefield. Zelda held up a magical barrier, defending the group from any oncoming attacks.

Marth stood staring ahead. "There's no way we can win...Anyone that comes to assist will be struck down. I would draw his attention if I could get to the castle, but there are way too many Stalfos. Is there anything else left, Mewtwo?" Mewtwo, still in the air, said in his usual thought speech, "There are no more special attacks I can muster against them...I don't think we have much of a chance." Marth sighed, looking down at the ground. "Fine then, I suppose that we should..."

Before Marth could continue, the ground rumbled violently. As Marth looked toward the source, he was amazed. Large crater sat in the center of the Stalfos ranks, all that were caught in it were destroyed upon impact.

A small rust orange colored ship came down from the sky, descending upon the battlefield. Marth gasped, for atop the ship was... "Samus!" Marth yelled, as the ship landed near him. Samus, in her usual battle armor, turned her head toward Marth, smiling under the visor that hid her face. "Hello again, Marth. Sorry I hadn't been here earlier. To make up for it, though, I brought along some friends."

She then pointed toward the sky, as four small fighter ships descended, along with a much larger ship, which on the side was imprinted: Great Fox, with a small fox figure under it. Samus spoke into a separate line from her suit's speaker, to one of the fighter pilots. "Fox, do you read me?"

In the cockpit of the leading fighter, which was known as an Arwing, a tall, fox-like being sat, by the name of Fox Mcloud. Fox replied to Samus' message with a microphone on his flight helmet. "I read you loud and clear, Samus. What do you want us to do?" A speaker in the cockpit allowed Samus' voice to speak, "Clear a path toward the entrance of that castle, as well as clear out a large number of the enemy forces. Try to evade any incoming fire you may encounter; any damage can be deadly! One last detail; avoid damage to the castle at ALL COSTS." Fox nodded. "Understood." Fox then turned on a monitor, speaking to three others, a large bird person, named Falco, a toad person by the name of Slippy, and a hare named Peppy. "Everyone, you heard what Samus said. Let's go!"

The ships then split formation, all then firing different lines through the Stalfos ranks, as Samus then looked to Marth. "Marth, you need to go now! I'll follow you, just as soon as I can, just don't wait for me!" Marth nodded. "Alright. Come on, everyone!" Marth ran into battle, the rest of the group following his lead.

Meanwhile, back with Link...

Link's head was dropped in exhaustion, his body too battered and beaten to care about all the sounds of battle at the moment. He had heard bad things from the Stalfos that tended to wander around, and felt that his chances of being saved were very low. As he despaired, he heard a noise that suddenly disrupted his thoughts. As he listened, he heard a voice. "Hello? Link? Hey!" Link recognized this voice, but too weak to move, just mumbled lightly, "Hello Navi..."

Navi flew down before Link's face. "You okay? Link...?" Link coughed, a small stream of blood coming from the corner of his lips. "Link! You're hurt... I brought a friend!" A pink fairy flew around Link, using its light to heal his wounds. Link's head darted up. Seeing this, Navi was relieved. "Wow, that worked well!" Navi then flew around at the cuffs that bound Link. "Wow. How fortunate!" Link looked at Navi. "Huh?" Navi then called out, as an opening appeared in the wall, a stone in it being slowly pushed out.

Link watched, as a small pink ball of fluff hopped from the newly made entrance. Link stared, the puff saying, its huge eyes lighting up as it came out, "Jigglypuff!" It held a small key with it. The small Pokemon hopped up to Link's head, unlocking both the cuffs on Link's wrists that suspended him, as he fell free, landing on his feet. Dusting himself off, he looked to Jigglypuff, who was now on the floor. "Thanks for the help, little one." Link then gave Jigglypuff a light pat on the head, then started to run off, when Navi blocked him. "Wait, Link! Your equipment is all in the Stalfos armory on the second floor! Find it quick!" Link nodded, then ran up the stairs.

He stopped at the top, crouching down as two Stalfos walked by, speaking to one another. "I lost my weapons again! Stupid Wolfos probably chewed them up again." The second Stalfos growled. "You're just lucky master Ganondorf allows us all to have so many weapons. Come on, let's go to the armory before you get found out."

The Stalfos walked off, as Link got up from his crouching position. He quietly followed the Stalfos, as he always hid away whenever they looked back. As he continued on, he saw all the inner workings of the castle. Many assorted cloaks and spare outfits lay in one room, while a vast amount of food and other goodies was in another. He passed another room, as he thought to himself. (I think we're almost there... Well, hopefully, anyway.)

His thoughts were then interrupted by a loud howl, which made him yell out in surprise. The Stalfos he had followed immediately turned, growling. "The prisoner escaped!" They then charged toward him, though since they were unarmed, Link rolled quickly between the two. After this, he leaped to his feet, running from the Stalfos. He ran away from the Stalfos, as he looked left and right frantically, past many rooms, looking for the weapons room. He then saw a room full of weapons, passing the open door.

Realizing this, he turned back, just to be grabbed by the arms from the pursuing Stalfos. The two glared toward him. "You thought you could get away, did you? There's no getting away now!" Link looked frantically for an escape method, then saw a door. Remembering from before, he kicked one of the Stalfos, hitting its sword from its side. The sword flew from the kick, hitting the door's lock, breaking it away, as the Stalfos' heads immediately looked toward the now broken door.

The door slammed open, as a Wolfos leaped out, looking around frantically. Seeing two Stalfos was a perfect time for lunch! The Wolfos charged at the Stalfos, ignoring Link, and the Stalfos dropped Link, running as fast as they could, the Wolfos barking and chasing the two. Link got to his feet, walking into the equipment room.

Before him was a large room, walls lined with many swords and shields. Link then found what he wanted: a large treasure chest sat in the side of the room, as Link walked over to it, pushing the heavy lid open, jumping onto the front of the chest, due to his short stature, and fell in. He grabbed the contents of the chest, climbing slowly from the large chest. Not knowing why, he held his sword and shield up in the air, grinning. -A/N: 'Dum dum dum dum!' "You got your stuff back! Now to escape!"-

Link decided before he left, to leave a little present. He tied five bombs together by their fuses, then lit the bombs, throwing them into the room. He then ran away, down the castle corridors. Meanwhile, a group of ten Stalfos ran into the room to arm themselves, room, weapons, and Stalfos being destroyed by the large blast of five bombs.

Meanwhile...

Marth ran into the castle gates, Mewtwo, Shiek, and Roy following. They stopped, all looking around at the castle interior. "Which way do we go?" Marth looked at the huge room, around ten corridors lining two of the room's walls. Mewtwo pointed forward, though all that was there was a flat brick wall. "We go that way." Marth looked to Mewtwo. "There's nothing there! Why go there?"

Mewtwo closed his eyes, then opened them, once more, the eyes now filled with a purple glow, as the wall distorted constantly, then the wall faded to show a large door. "It was an illusion. You humans should be thankful for my help, or this would be much harder." Marth growled. "Stop bragging about it." Marth, leading the others to the door, was nervous. They had barely gotten in, just by luck. What will happen when they finally get to face Ganondorf? Marth's thoughts halted, as he was sent skidding across the ground. He got to his feet, rubbing his head as he looked at his attacker.

Captain Falcon smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Well, well, if it isn't Marth and his little friends. I see you've gotten a bit stronger." Marth blinked. "He's acting normal?" Mewtwo closed his eyes. "He may have his personality but he is under a spell still. We'll have to fight him." Marth growled. "We don't have time for this!" Roy stepped forward, unsheathing the Sword of Seals. "I'll fight him, you go ahead and find Link." Marth looked to Roy. "You sure?" Roy grinned. "You know it! Now get outta here!"

Marth nodded, running through the castle door. Falcon growled, yelling, "You won't get away!" He then started to run, as Roy leaped in front of Falcon, slamming the blunt side of his sword to Falcon's face, sending him tumbling back with a large red mark on his face. As Falcon finally stopped himself, he painfully got to his feet. "You've worked on your speed?" Roy smirked. "A little. No more talk, we fight!" Falcon smirked toward Roy. "Fine then." Falcon dashed toward Roy, Roy charging forward with his blade in flames, as they leaped to the air, sword against fist.

The large door slammed behind them, as Marth and the others ran forward, Mewtwo abruptly stopped them. Marth growled. "What're you doing?" Mewtwo then held his three-fingered paw forward, a midnight-black arrow bouncing away. A sheer black copy of Link was facing them, as Mewtwo looked to Marth, and in thought speech, said, "Go ahead. I'll take care of this..." Marth nodded, motioning to Shiek as he ran. Shiek looked to Mewtwo. "Will you need help?" Mewtwo growled audibly. "Don't worry about me, fool! Go!" Shiek sighed, running ahead through the next door. Mewtwo closed the door behind her, smirking. "This should be interesting. Dark Link then charged toward Mewtwo, as Mewtwo summoned a blade from a suit of armor, as Dark Link then swung his sword.

Shiek gasped, looking back. "Mewtwo locked himself in!" Marth grabbed Shiek, forcing her to come. "They'll be fine! Come on, let's go!" The last door was ahead of them. Before they could get there, though, they were slammed back by a familiar foe. Marth shook his head, looking at what hit him, gasping. "Giga Bowser! I thought you..." "...Were gone? Hardly! Now you pay for what happened!" Bowser charged, horns ready to stab the two through.

Bowser fell back, roaring in pain, as Samus landed swiftly, her arm cannon burning hot from the plasma cannon setting. "Sorry I took so long. It was hard to get in through the gate, had to blast my way through. I'll go up against this idiot, you go on ahead and finish what you started!" Marth nodded. "Alright then, come on, Shiek!"

The two entered the last room, Shiek carrying the Master Sword with her, Marth staying ahead. The door closed behind them, as the room was pitch black. Marth and Shiek looked around frantically, unable to see, as the room suddenly lit up.

A shadow figure walked into the room, as the figure then became clear. "Ganondorf!" Shiek yelled, quickly transforming back to Zelda. Ganondorf smirked. "Well, if it isn't the Princess Zelda and Prince Marth..." Zelda looked to Marth. "I never knew you were a prince." Marth shook his head. "Forget about that, Ganondorf is our priority!" Zelda nodded. "Er, right... Now, Ganondorf! Tell me where Link is!"

Ganondorf laughed loudly to this. "You expect me to tell you? Then fight me, the both of you. I wish to test your combined strength." Marth smirked. "Fine, if you're sure you want to lose!" Ganondorf smirked. "Your performance in the tournament shows you're no match for me." Marth growled. "I'll show you!" He unsheathed his blade, looking to Zelda. "Let's go!" Zelda nodded, getting into fighting position. Ganondorf smirked. "Fine then..." He then unsheathed his large blade. "Come at me!" Marth charged, sword raised, as Ganondorf readied his own blade.