I've looked over this story so far, and I realize I have put many complicated stories/explanations in this, like Zant's explanation of how he became the new portal. If you think I should make this story simpler, or if you like the little details and would like me to keep putting them in, don't hesitate to tell me what you think in a review. Give me your thoughts!

Enjoy the chapter, and if you did, or didn't, leave me a review!

Chapter 10: The Throne Room

Minutes later, they cautiously left the dungeons with countless Sols in their arms, bracing themselves for the upcoming danger.

Zant looked down to observe the familiar Island transfer platform, completely transparent except for Twili patterns glowing very dimly due to the lack of power, long enough for the six of them to spread out and rest. He let out a sigh and his body sagged to the ground. He welcomed the slight break. The six of the resistors had just successfully destroyed all of the Frytes in the Twilight Realm, save for those in the Palace's throne room, where they had unanimously decided to put aside for last. They had traversed most of the Islands in the realm, extracting and killing Frytes from the Twilight Realm. Fortunately, everyone had made it unscathed. Kamtor's ability made it very easy to count how many Frytes there were, thanks to his life sensing abilities.

But about the Islands… Poryte was right. "We have got to find a way to generate more power, or this world is going to die off," he had muttered as he waited for the dungeon entrance to appear. Yes, the sentence seemed to become more and more validthey reached the Islands one at a time. Each Island held less power than the last, the seventh and last of the Islands barely having the power to light up the adornments of the buildings. Midna and Zant had showed their homeland with both pride and embarrassment.

Now, after the Frytes were taken from most of the Twili, their forces were counted to about ninety Twili, plus the Hylians in the Light Realm. Zant had sent all of the Twili to the Light Realm, entrusting them to defend Hyrule Castle and join the Hylians. But who knew how many Twili in Hyrule were still asleep, wreaking havoc in their sleep without conscience of it? How many shadow monsters had been bred since the day the Zoras were attacked? And what were they doing in Hyrule?

Too many questions and far too little answers for Zant's liking. And there was still the matter of trust that the others placed on him; would they trust him with their lives? No, not now, perhaps, but Zant was determined to show them that he was on their side now, not a traitor like he was. He was such a power-obsessed fool, letting himself be manipulated by Ganondorf like that. Now, he was opposing the Dark Lord forever.

Zant stared at the familiar waterfalls of twilight. If only they could take power from the twilight, their power problems would leave forever. But in these dark times, no Twili could perform experiments unless their authorities allowed them to. Someday, perhaps.

"So let's get this straight," Ralis said slowly for only the millionth time. "We find out how many are in the throne room, we go in with the last Sols we have, and we forge in. We free the Twili and kill the Frytes, and then we send everyone to the Light Realm so that we can fight the Zoras and Gorons."

"Ralis, you've memorized those lines already, so shut up, please," Link sighed, running his hand through his sandy coloured hair.

"I only want to be sure!"

"Ralis!" Zelda said, exasperated. "Yes, what you recited is what we're going to do! Okay? Now, please, this Island transfer is taking long enough and it's unsettling and nauseating to see my feet walking on almost nothing, so please stay silent and let us rest! That's an order!"

"As you wish, Your Grace," Ralis said with a tone with some sarcasm. Zelda simply shook her head and closed her eyes, obviously not wanting to get sick. Everyone but the two laughed, but quickly sobered as they knew that the throne room would have many guards in there.

After a long fifteen minutes, the platform stopped above the Island with the Palace. The platform sank to the Island and it became one with the floor of the Island. The light dwellers sighed with relief, especially Princess Zelda. After making sure their weapons were at the ready, they headed briskly for the Palace's throne room once more.

Zant said quietly to Kamtor while scanning the area for guards, "Can you tell how many are in the throne room? Any sign of a giant, powerful entity?"

Kamtor's eyes became unfocused as he concentrated, then he nodded and said, "The throne room contains eight guards. They're at ease, probably because they're confident that their abilities can kill whoever comes in. And they probably can. Don't worry, I don't think Ganondorf is in there, unless his power has been reduced to that of a normal Twili's, which I doubt."

"Eight," Midna groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead in frustration. "What are we supposed to do? We can't just traipse in there and hand out Sols to the bloodthirsty Fryte-controlled people like we're handing out sweets!"

Ralis suggested, "Could we use a spell to make us invisible? Then we would be able to walk in and simply perform the task without fuss." Zant had to admit that it was a good idea, but the King Zora probably suggested it only because he wanted to leave the Twilight Realm as soon as possible.

Off to the side, Zant saw yellow magic resembling lightning flicker playfully in Midna's hands. "That's a good idea," the Twilight Princess spoke with approval, "but what if their abilities will make them see through the spell? One mistake, and we're all dead. I don't think invisibility will guarantee our safety. We can't do it in clear conscience."

Link shrugged. "Does anyone have a better idea? Because if cranky old Midna doesn't–" he began in a nasal tone.

"Shut it," Midna snapped. "Let's do it."

Everyone laughed, knowing that Link knew how to infuriate Midna. The Twili cursed under her breath, then she began to speak a spell that made a yellow pool of magic above her hands. At her command, it separated into six pools and they darted to one person each. Zant felt the familiar tingle that was felt when magic took place. The others, unaccustomed to it, shivered in displeasure at the sensation. Their bodies slowly faded from sight until they were half-faded. "We will be able to see one another, but others will not," Midna explained.

As Zant was about to walk into the room, Kamtor's strong arm held him back. Zant looked back at him questioningly. "The Sols can be seen," he muttered. Zant stared at the Sols in his hand, which glowed as brightly as ever. Foul oaths slipped out of his mouth.

Midna shook her head in frustration after her third attempt to conceal them from outside sight. "No spell seems to work," she complained. "Ganondorf must have done this himself. Damn that corrupt, powerful jerk!"

Zelda said, "No matter. We'll simply be swift." But her eyebrows were still pulled into a frown.

"Something tells me that it won't be so easy," Midna muttered.

Zant peered into the room, trying to figure out what the guards were doing. They seemed to be idle as Kamtor said, so they all slipped inside silently. None of the Twili seemed to notice them, occasionally speaking to one another.

They ran forward and hurled the Sols at the guards. To Zant's surprise and dismay, the guards successfully raised their black swords at the perfect time simultaneously so that the Sols were blocked and fell to the floor.

At first, Zant didn't think it was on purpose that they raised their swords at the perfect time, but each of the guards leapt from their spots and backed away from the Sols, muttering a strange string of words alien to Zant. Their bodies suddenly convulsed violently, and they shrieked while their bodies changed shape. Their forms morphed into the same terrifying creatures as the Hylians knew well, but this time larger. They turned to the stunned people standing motionless and let out unearthly shrieks as they lunged at them, their foul black swords seemingly shimmering with delight at having a chance to kill.

With a spoken incantation, Zant released a wall of energy in front of each of his allies and the monsters slammed into the unseen wall. Zant gasped at the energy that the walls took from him as they blocked the attack. Temporarily stunned, the monsters dropped to the floor.

Zant shouted to the others, "Now!" He took Sols from the floor and threw them to the monsters' feet. The others followed suit.

They managed only to remove four Frytes from four of the guards before the others came to their senses. As the Frytes jumped out of the guards' backs, the monsters lost their unsightly forms and morphed back into the skins of Twili. Zant told them, "You wake them up! I'll destroy the Frytes!"

The others lashed out with weapons and shot magic, not even able to answer, while Zant grabbed the nearest Sol and swung his head in all directions, looking for the Frytes.

Blast it, growled Zant in his mind. There are too many! And they're all too fast for me! He spotted one frantically making its way to the exit, and he shot the Sol at it with speed and accuracy that surprised even him. The Fryte stood frozen, then exploded into twilight squares. That was something strange about the Twili race; they would get stunning physical ability when their bodies felt like it needed it. He scooped another Sol off the floor, but while he was doing so, a sword that was aimed for someone else – Midna, he now realized – slashed his side. Hard.

What miserable luck he was having today.

He doubled over in pain, gasping at the blow. Midna cried out and blasted the monster away with an impressively giant ball of orange-lined dark magic while kneeling down to attend to Zant's wounds.

"No! Midna… fight… them… off…" protested Zant, barely able to speak for the pain. He hadn't coped with such agony before, even when Midna first killed him in her fury, and even when Link stabbed through Ganondorf with the sword that was the bane of the dark. "Help… later… Kill… Frytes…" he choked out.

Midna hesitated, then covered the wound with a sheet of magic, placed a shield of magic around him, and whispered in his ear, "Stay safe." Zant thought she saw something shining on her face. Then she dashed away, taking a Sol from the ground.

Zant looked at the long gash on his body. It went all the way from his left shoulder to his right hip. Ouch, thought Zant sadly. He tried not to move, for fear of breaking apart the magical bandage and letting more of his blood pour out like an unsteady waterfall. He guiltily watched the fighters in the room, charging each other, and watched Midna search desperately for the Frytes. He felt enraged that he could not help, but he could do nothing.

He sat perfectly still, protected in the shield, waiting for the battle to end.

After blasting a fireball at the monsters that was fuelled by her anger and dismay, Midna kneeled down to Zant, who was nearly writhing in pain. Her eyes became excessively wet as she saw the fearsome wound that tore apart the skin from his hip to shoulder. She was about to clean the wound when he said unclearly, "No! Midna… fight… them… off… Help… later… Kill… Frytes." He choked out the last words.

She didn't know what to do. It was important that they win against these guards, but Zant's existence was even more important. In ways more than one, for her. But Zant didn't know anything about her affection for him.

How could she feel this way toward him? Sure, they had been friends before, but nothing more than that. And then Zant had become power crazy, tearing their friendship into pieces…

She covered the wound with the same thing that she had covered Link's injuries with. A tear leaked out of her eye as she created a shield around Zant and she whispered in his ear, "Stay safe."

Agh! I'm acting like some lovesick fool! Midna thought in despair as she turned away from Zant, wiping her tear away. Get back to the plan! she screamed inwardly. She picked up a Sol, trying to forget the image of Zant writhing on the cold floor of their realm, and looked for another Fryte.

No you don't! she shouted in her mind as she spotted one of the Frytes trying to get back into a guard's back. She shone the light at the guard, and the Fryte leapt out. However, it soon got completely enveloped in the light, and it disintegrated. She couldn't help but feel pleasure at killing such a harmful thing, a thing that would harm Link, Zelda, or Zant. Ralis she didn't really care about, but that was because she only knew him through Link.

Suddenly, a monster slammed onto her back and pinned her down, the Sol dropping out of her hands. Damn it! she thought. The Sol is right there… She reached her arm out for the Sol that was so near yet so far, but the monster caught and snatched her hand back with more force than necessary before she could take hold of it. Flailing in fury, she conjured a freezing ice ball in her hand and blew it up into the guard's face. It screeched in anger and pain, and she shook her way out of its grasp. She quickly took the Sol and shone it into his face, and another Fryte was vanquished.

The last Fryte was nowhere to be seen, so she focused on extracting other Frytes. Zelda called to her, "I've destroyed one of the Frytes!" She hurried away, chasing a fleeing one.

That makes four down, Midna thought. "Link!" she said aloud to him. He was still fighting off a shadow monster, struggling to find an opening in the guard. "Focus on extracting the Frytes, not the battle!" He nodded in response, dodged a swipe of the biting sword, and ran for a Sol.

Soon all of the guards were back in their original form and were confused, and the five of them were searching for those blasted Frytes. They were being very careful about where they hid, and very quiet.

Midna finally spotted all four of them, almost completely hidden in a shadow. But they were doing something far stranger what Midna had ever seen, even after traveling with Link.

They were huddled together, their bloodthirsty eyes closed. The black fire that enveloped their bodies burned more furiously than before, and they hissed a spell, raising their faces to the ceiling. Once their spell was completed, which was done in about two seconds, their bodies melded into one another slowly. It was a disgusting process to see. Midna watched in horror as the four Frytes, now in one giant body, stretched its back, looking deadlier than ever. When it stretched to its full height, it assumed the shape of a four-legged beast.

It was twice the size of herself now! Or was she just so frightened that she was exaggerating? Either way, it was colossal.

It gave a deafening, fearsome roar, and the force of that alone almost threw Midna backwards. It crouched down, ready to pounce onto the stunned people in front of it. Its eyes glowed brighter red than ever.

I don't think that Fryte is going to be defeated by one little Sol, thought Midna in despair. If we can defeat it at all.