Mothula let out a deafening screech that made Asuka's ears ring. Still, she was used to straining battles ever since she fought the Angels, and this big bug wouldn't ruin her wonderful time as a princess.
"I've had it with you ugly things that just show up to make my day a living hell!" she shouted and took her bow. "Take this!"
"No, Zelda, wait!" Link yelled, but Asuka did not listen. She pulled back her bowstring and fired a Light Arrow at the giant moth.
Maybe it was because Asuka was agitated and didn't aim too well, maybe it was because Mothula was too agile to be hit... the arrow missed, and only made Mothula angry. Seeing that it had been the two-legged female that had attacked it, the huge insect swooped down at the red-haired archer.
It opened its mouth and gave off a volley of high-pitched shrieks that were directed directly at Asuka. The girl gasped when the sound waves flew past her and grasped her ears. This was too much even for her too handle, and she went down on her knees. Mothula saw its chance and attacked...
Out of nowhere, a huge blade came flying through the air and impaled itself in the monstrous moth's body. Mothula screeched in pain, but Ike gave her no time to react as he came leaping out of nowhere, grabbed Ragnell's handle, pulled it out of Mothula's body and sliced it along its abdomen while falling down again.
Link gasped. "What kind of attack was that?"
"Aether!" Ike smirked. "My specialty. Are you unharmed, princess?"
"Y-yeah, I think so..." Asuka grumbled. Her ears were still ringing, though.
Mothula wasn't down yet, though. It had a gaping wound on its abdomen, but its wings still kept it in the air. Link tried to hit it with an arrow of his own, but the flying monster was just too quick.
"Damn, if only I could clip off that ugly bug's wings..." he grumbled.
Just then, two small shapes entered the hall.
"Oh!" Ooccoo gasped. "I think we have chosen a wrong time to come..."
"Stand back!" Link shouted. "That thing's dangerous!"
"Oh my..." Ooccoo muttered as she and her son fluttered in the darkest corner of the room, hoping the moth wouldn't find them there. "I hope they'll be able to take care of this beast..."
"Don't worry, Mom, you know that Link can defeat anyone!" Junior said. He watched the continuing battle between Mothula and the three heroes. While Mothula really had no powerful attack except for his sonic scream, they weren't able to hit him either. This time, Mothula made sure to stay out of reach of Ike's deadly Aether attack.
While watching the fight, Junior noticed something. "Mom!" he shouted. "Isn't this the room we've been looking for?"
"I think you are right, honey," Ooccoo realized. "Maybe here we can find something our ancestors left behind..."
Mothula screeched when one of Link's arrows pierced its wing. But it still kept on flying.
"I guess my arrows are not enough," Link grumbled. "Can't you try it with another Light Arrow, Zelda?"
Asuka winced. "Sorry, what did you say? I have the feeling that horrible screech made me temporarily deaf..."
"I wish my friends were here to help me..." Ike sighed. "I think Ilyana's magic would be enough to fry that thing..."
"Magic, that's it!" Link said. "If we only had some sort of magical spell we can use... Zelda's arrows would be ideal, but as long as she's recovering from that screech..."
"Link!" Ooccoo shouted in an excited voice. "Over here, look what we found!"
Link winced when Mothula swooped down at him once again. He parried its bite with his shield and tried to slash at it, but the moth was out of reach again. "I'm kinda busy..." he grimaced.
"But you can use this to beat that monster!" Junior shouted. "Here, catch!"
He flitted over to where Link was standing and threw something small and shiny in his direction.
Link caught whatever it was and looked at it. It was a small, red gemstone. "What...?"
"Quick, put the ruby into the socket at the tip of the Dominion Rod!" Ooccoo shouted.
Mothula started another attack, so Link didn't think about it made sense or not, he just reacted quickly and put the ruby where Ooccoo had told him. The Dominion Rod flared up with a bright red fire, and a burning flame appeared on its tip. Mothula was blinded by the sudden burst of light and stumbled into the wrong direction.
"What happened?" Ike wondered.
"The Dominion Rod was constructed to accept the Sacred Stones of the Sages," Ooccoo explained. "Our ancestors hid both the rod and the Goron Ruby here in the temple, knowing that one day a hero would need them. And now that you have connected them, the Dominion Rod has turned into the Fire Rod."
"A fire weapon!" Link grinned. "Just what we need..."
"Careful, here it comes again!" Ike shouted when Mothula came down on them.
Link swept the rod through the air to hit the huge moth with a fireball, but Mothula reached him a second before the magical projectile could leave the rod's tip.
Link gasped when Mothula's massive body collided with his own and threw him to the ground. The Fire Rod rolled across the floor until it bumped against Asuka's shoes.
Asuka blinked and picked the strange object up. Then she looked over to Link and gasped when she saw how their monstrous enemy was hovering directly above the fallen warrior.
Following a sudden inspiration, she swung around the rod and shouted: "Ike! Raise your sword!"
Crimea's general blinked in confusion, but did as he was told. Asuka fired a small sphere of fire at the sacred blade Ragnell, and all of a sudden, it was the sword that flared up with an inner fire.
Seeing that he was close enough for another attack, Ike repeated his attack from earlier and threw Ragnell at the moth.
This time, the burning blade impaled two of Mothula's wings, and when Ike jumped up to rip his blade out again, he somehow managed to stay afloat, hitting the monster with a rapid succession of blows and slashes.
"GREAT AETHER!" he yelled as he brought down his weapon for one last, finishing attack. The blow slammed Mothula down to the ground, where the magical energies stored within Ragnell discharged with a massive explosion... which tore the creature apart!
Ike breathed heavily as he got up from the ground and lifted his sword. The fire that had been crackling around Ragnell's blade was gone again, since the Fire Rod had only temporarily imbued it with its powers.
Asuka helped Link get up from the ground. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Link gulped. "Yeah, I'm okay... thanks, that was a smooth move." He wasn't too sure himself if he meant Ike or the princess.
Asuka grinned. "Here, I think that belongs to you." And she gave him back the Fire Rod.
He nodded and accepted it. "Thanks." He looked over to where the two Oocca were approaching them. "You knew this gem was hidden in here?"
"It was only a hunch," Ooccoo admitted. "But the tales that have been passed down the generations tell us of three stones that have been given to the Oocca by the Sages of Hyrule to watch over. I don't think the other stones are hidden in this temple, though..."
Junior fluttered next to his mother. "It is said that the three Sacred Stones react when a special song is played on the Ocarina of Time, another artifact passed down by the Royal Family..."
"The Ocarina?" Ike asked in surprise. "I've been looking for it... so you don't know where it is?"
"I'm afraid not," Ooccoo shook her head.
Ike sighed. "Then how am I going to save Elincia?"
"Hey!" Midna's voice spoke up. "I hate to nag, but haven't you forgotten why you've come here in the first place?" She was somewhat upset that they forgot her own troubles.
"Oops, that's right," Asuka remembered. "Ike, have you seen something like this around here?" And she showed him one of the mirror shards.
Ike looked at it and nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do," he said and pulled a nearly identical shard out of his own bag. "I found it shortly after I arrived in this temple, in another room."
"So this is the shard we've been looking for all this time," Link said and took it from their new friend. "May we have it?"
"I don't mind," Ike shrugged. "I took it along because it looked valuable, I never knew that it was important."
"It is important," Midna explained. "Without the Twilight Mirror, we can't reopen the gate between our two kingdoms... and without any help, these invading pirates will sooner or later overrun my palace."
"So you are a queen or princess as well?" Ike asked in surprise.
"The Twilight Princess," Midna smirked. "At your service."
Ike bowed in front of her image. "I didn't know... and I certainly would offer my help, if it weren't for my own problems..." He sighed again. Then he grinned. "Man, what is it with me and meeting princesses?"
Link chuckled. "I know how you feel, trust me... but say, this Black Knight... has he given you a deadline for delivering that ocarina to you?"
"No, he didn't!" Ike shook his head. "I really doubt that he'd hurt Elincia either. But the longer she is his prisoner, the more worried I am. We tried to besiege the castle he has turned into his hideout, but our forces never managed to get even close to the gates... every time we tried, we got attacked by strange creatures.
Link rubbed his chin. "You know, strange creatures are somewhat my specialty... as you have seen today," he grinned. "I ran into these annoying little pests on an almost daily basis... so what do you say we work together?"
Ike, Asuka and Midna looked at him with surprised looks on their faces. "Excuse me?" Ike blurted out.
"You told us that this Black Knight guy wouldn't harm your princess. I don't know anything about the Ocarina of Time, but maybe we won't need it. You help us saving the Twili from the pirates, and in return, we come with you to Crimea to rescue Princess Elincia. I'm sure Zelda would rally Hyrule's army..."
"You bet I will," Asuka shouted. She was a bit confused, though... she only has been princess for two days now, and she already had to help in a war she knew nothing about. But she knew that unlike most men she knew, Ike was a pretty decent guy. Shinji was an ignorant baka. Commander Ikari was a cold manipulator. Kaji was an arrogant jerk, no matter how much she had adored him. Link was nice, but also suffered from a big ego, like most of the men Asuka knew.
But Ike was different. He may not be a noble, but he still had a noble heart. He was kind, caring about those he loved and a real gentleman. And no matter if Hyrules throne was rightfully hers or not, if she could help him free the one he loves, she would do it, no matter what.
"Well, if you really would help us out, I'm pretty sure the Twili would offer their help as well," Midna said. "And weird creatures or not, I don't think that Black Knight will be able to withstand all of our forces combined."
"Well, that's true... but there's still the matter of Elincia..." Ike murmured. "If he's keeping her as a hostage..."
"We'll think of a plan to bust her out of there," Link promised. "I'm an expert in helping troubled princesses, so trust me with this!" he smirked.
"Oh, so you think you're sooo special?" Asuka grumbled. There it was again, the male ego...
"Remember who busted you out of prison the first time we met," Midna reminded him. "But anyways, I accept any help my people can get. Thank you for offering us your help, Ike, I know you are taking a big risk here."
"So, does that mean we are only missing one shard?" Asuka asked. "Where can the missing piece be?"
"I have the feeling that this is going to be another tiresome trip..." Link sighed. "Where do we have to go? Up to the mountaintops? Down into the lake, again? Or maybe in the desert..."
"Actually, finding the last shard is going to be pretty easy," Midna said. "The last piece... is inside Hyrule Castle, no doubt about it!"
Link looked at Asuka in surprise, and Asuka looked back at Link and Midna, equally surprised. "What?"
"Zelda, didn't you know?" Link wondered.
Asuka gulped nervously. "N-no, not really..."
"Maybe somebody brought it into your castle and never told you about it..." Ike assumed.
"But... who could have done such a thing?" Link wondered.
Dina smiled as her fingers ran across the smooth surface of the mirror shard in the servant's quarters of Hyrule Castle. "So beautiful..." she whispered. "And it's all mine... all mine..."
Shinji used his stubby arms and legs to swim through the underwater tunnel. He was very surprised at the amount of time he was able to spend under water. At first, he didn't believe Ribbon when she told him that Kirby was able to hold his breath for at least 15 minutes. But now he realized that not only had she spoken the truth, he even was able to fight any underwater creatures that came in his way without getting tired.
He looked back at his pink-haired companion, who followed him through the water, encased in a magical bubble. She smiled at him encouragingly, and they kept on swimming, until they reached the end of the tunnel, and Shinji breached the surface of a little pond in the middle of an underwater cavern.
"Man," he gasped and took a deep breath. "That was amazing. And, to be honest... I feel like I could have spend another 15 minutes in there."
"See?" Ribbon smiled as she dropped her bubble. "I told you it is no problem. If there is one thing Kirby has, it's powerful lungs."
Shinji pulled two crystal shards out of... nowhere. "We found two of them," he said. "Are you sure there is another one here on Aqua Star?"
"I'm sure of it," Ribbon nodded. "I can feel its power. And I believe it's just up ahead... deeper in this grotto, I think."
"Deeper?" Shinji asked. He wondered just how deep they had to travel until they could get back to the surface. He sighed. "Oh well, let's get this over with... I just wonder how the others are faring."
"Slower, go slower!" Lucas yelled.
"This thing doesn't have a brake!" Adeleine grumbled as the mine cart they were sitting in rolled along the rail track in the catacombs of Neo Star. "I admit it wasn't the best idea to try out this thing, but at least we're gonna reach our destination pretty quickly."
"Look out ahead!" Lucas shouted as he saw a couple of low-hanging stalactites they were approaching.
Adeleine quickly took her brush and painted a pair of helmets they put on their heads. Ducking down into the cart, they drove past this obstacle.
"That was dangerous..." Lucas panted. His heart was still pounding.
"And it's not over," Adeleine said. "Look, we are being followed!" And she pointed at the trio of Bronto Burts that was flying after them.
Lucas concentrated. "PK Thunder!" A lance of electricity flew towards the flying, spherical enemies and blasted them backwards.
"Good work, Lucas!" Adeleine smiled. "Now the only problem we have is how we are going to stop this thing..."
Lucas gulped.
"WHAAAAAAAHH! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" Dedede yelled as the chamber they were in got filled with more and more sand. The door they used to enter the room was already buried underneath the sand masses.
Waddle Dee looked around. "Let's see... if we can't take the lower route anymore, we'll have to find an exit up here."
"Very funny, you genius!" his king growled. "Do you see an exit here? There's nothing here but a solid stone ceiling!"
"Not quite," Waddle Dee said as he looked up. "See that brown-colored spot over there? That's not stone, that's earth. It looks like an air shaft somebody must have filled up some time ago. Just a moment..." He nimbly climbed up a stone statue that was attached to the wall and then climbed along the ceiling as if he was a fly.
Dedede stared at his tiny little minion. "How is he DOING that?" he gasped.
WD had reached the spot he had mentioned and with his bare hands, he started digging. Within seconds, the shaft was free. WD looked down into the chamber, which by now was almost completely filled with sand and shouted: "Hurry up, this leads to the surface."
"I hope so..." the king of Dreamland muttered as he followed the little guy. "But how did you dig through here without any tools?"
Waddle Dee smirked. "Well, Adeleine always said that I am a master of survival..."
The surface of Shiver Star was covered with snow and ice. Only a sole building stood out of the monotonous landscape. It was a huge, mechanical complex giving off steam and sparks.
A huge shape was hovering in the skies above the factory.
"We are here, sir!" called one of the Blade Knights. "According to our detectors, a crystal has to be in this complex. Should we just blast our way through with our cannons?"
Meta Knight shook his head. "No, that's not my style. I will go by myself."
"A-are you sure, sir?" the Blade Knight gasped.
"Of course! This shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes." And he left the bridge.
The caped Dream Lander needed only 5 minutes to reach the middle of the factory. He looked at the huge tubes that were standing around. Strangely-shaped monsters were floating in them.
"This must be where the followers of Dark Matter construct more of his evil creatures..." he muttered to himself. "And their weapons are constructed here as well... now where could that crystal shard be?"
A loud noise made him turn around. At the other side of the room, a huge door was opening, revealing a colossal, metallic shape.
The war robot raised his cannon-arms. "Intruder alert!" it said in a mechanical voice. "Destroy! Destroy!"
Meta Knight drew his blade. "Maybe I will need a bit longer than 10 minutes..." he grumbled.
"And this is everything I know," Rei finished her story. "Please accept my apologies and believe me when I say that I never intended on betraying you."
"Poor Krystal..." Slippy sniffled. "Where could she be?"
Peppy scratched his head. "I doubt Rei's appearance in her place is just a coincidence... especially not when we consider that Rei said she didn't always look like this."
"Illogical!" ROB 64 called up. "Krystal was in the command center when the General told us about our mission. She could have never left the room without being recorded by the Great Fox's security cameras."
"I think we are dealing with stuff here that can't be explained with physics, old friend..." Peppy sighed. "The question is, what should we do?"
"I say we still have a job to do," Falco spoke up. "Those Aparoids won't wait until we have found a solution... and if we wait any longer, that hog Pigma will get away."
"I'm afraid Falco is right," Fox nodded. "The Aparoids are currently the more urgent problem. We have to make sure they don't spread across the Lylat System... Krystal would have said the same."
"You are short of a pilot," Rei exclaimed. "I hereby request joining the Star Fox Team temporarily."
"You already know my answer," Fox said. "But I'd like to hear the others."
"Well, I'm all for it," Slippy said.
"Against the Aparoids, we could need all the help we can get," Peppy added.
"Well, she IS a good fighter and all..." Falco grumbled. "And it's not like she is the first weirdo in our team... sure, why not? Welcome aboard and whatever..."
"I thank you," Rei said formally.
"Friendly as always, huh?" Falco frowned. "Maybe we should let her approach the Aparoids by herself, and she puts them on ice by just using that icy glare of hers..."
Rei glared at him. Falco smirked. "Yeah, that's what I wanted to see. Give it to me, baby!"
"That's enough!" Fox barked. "Falco, she is a new team member, and I expect that all of you treat her as such, understood?"
"Yeah, okay! Chill, man, it was just a joke!"
"No time for jokes, team!" Peppy said. "We are entering Fichina's atmosphere. And there's a heavy snow storm down there."
"Well, looks like we are the ones that will be put on ice," Falco sighed. "Your plan, fearless leader?"
"Deploy the Landmaster!" Fox said. "I'm going down!"