PsycoFangirl: 'Shadow has a heart?' Oh, then you are really going to love this chapter. :) I wanted to make the parents joke for a super long time- it just made sense for Shadow to be the beloved hellspawn of Ben and Beth Drowned in the outtakes.
Thegeniusyoshi:... I owe you one heck of an apology. I am not interested in starting that fan fic right away and I wanted to do Ocarina and HW really badly after Twilight Twists... plus, I actually haven't finished beating Minish Cap yet, because I've been busy. I am really sorry.
In the meantime, Vaati will be showing up in the next couple of chapters.
HeroAlexa249: Oh, we are going to have fun with getting those two together. :D And I recommend that abridged series- it's pretty funny, and a lot of the more mature humor is pure gold.
-0.0-
Death Mountain sucks in Master Quest Mode- especially when you want that gold ranking for the square where you get Sheik's black ninja outfit. The fact that there was a cow in a hole on Death Mountain in OoT was confusing as is, and I really wanted to pay an homage to it.
Along with their choice in DLC characters, I wonder if the creators were trolling us when they chose the Water Temple for this segment- the layout is as confusing as it was in OoT. Luckily for us, it serves as the most fitting stage for Shadow to do his thing.
Funny thing: I did my childhood a favor and recently watched Batman Forever. Try imagining Shadow acting with all that similar camp and hamminess in this chapter: he might be giving it out in a way that that only comes from delightful ham in his glee for killing monsters. Mmm- tasty ham!
Chapter 10: Conquer yourself
Impa's men and Darunia's men (and everyone in between) finally entered Zora's Domain, which was frozen over and cold enough to give a winter in the Snowpeak region of Hyrule a run for it's money.
"Man, Zoras have a bad history of getting put on the ice." Aaron's teeth chattered as he tried to rub his arms for warmth. "You'd think they would have a back up plan whenever this happens." He wasn't the only one who was feeling the cold- almost everyone was unhappy about the change, and especially the Gorons and Ruto. The only ones who didn't seem effected were- oddly enough- Impa and Shadow.
"Here!" Geode eagerly held the Fire Rod up and allowed a steady jet of flame to burst out. It didn't do too much, but it was enough to make many of the Gorons and Ruto to eagerly run up towards him and walk within the warmth cast by the fires.
"Thanks." Ruto gave the Goron an appreciative smile.
"It's nothing, Your Highness." Geode blushed a little. "Anything to make everyone's lives a bit more comfortable makes me happy." He turned to Darunia. "Uh... Mr. Darunia?" He asked, and the Chieftain turned to face him. "Y-you're pretty well known, where I come from. I've admired you, and all you've done."
Darunia grinned. "Really? I guess our reputation precedes us. Tell me boy- what is the music like, where you are from?"
"So," Impa asked Ruto, while the Gorons chatted. "How shall we get into the temple?"
"It is a great labyrinth under Lake Hylia." Ruto explained. "There's the floodgates that the zoras and the professor at the lake house designed, to drain the lake in case of an emergency. We drained the lake somewhat, before the Domain froze over." Ruto grimaced as she glanced around her home. "Most of us got out as soon as we could. That was when our feud with the Gorons started."
"Yeah speaking of which," Shadow spoke up. "Once you drain the lake, I'd recommend that everyone wait for fifteen seconds first."
"Why?" Ruto asked as a select number of Hyrulean knights shot Shadow a nervous look.
"I have my ways of cleaning out infestations." Shadow shrugged. "It's quite a boom, really."
Finally, they reached the passageway that lead them from the Domain, to the lake itself. However, before they could exit, they heard a rattling sound- a familiar rattling sound.
"Is that-?" Impa and the rest turned to see huge numbers of stalchildren and even some Lizalfos and poes were coming towards them. However, what was more alarming was the figure in the middle of the army: he wore a familiar green tunic and blue scarf, and though his coloring seemed dull and paler than it should have been, there was no mistaking the identity of the young man who rested his hands on the hilt of the great sword.
"Y-Your- Link?" Bethany asked in surprise.
"Oh, look who it is." Link gave the division a displeased frown as he greeted them with a bored tone. "Invaders. Could someone please destroy them for me?" He asked the monsters, who eagerly charged ahead, before anyone could act or ask questions about why the green clothed man was in control of the monsters.
"That's him!" Ruto angrily pointed at the prince. "That's the one responsible for this mess!"
"You guys go ahead, I'll cover you!" Darunia charged forward, along with half of his men.
"Your Majesty?!" Impa asked in shock, but Bethany grabbed her general's arm and pulled her along. "Gates first, Prince later!" She told her.
"Help me with the switch!" Ruto joined in as she rushed out to the Lake, where even more monsters were waiting. "Someone help me!"
Link watched on. "This is the best any of you can do?" He then suddenly vanished from the fight, without a trace, before Darunia could smash him with his hammer.
Shadow hummed. "Well- looks like this is going to be my lucky day after all!" He grinned as he rushed out to the lake, while making sure that the cloak kept the sun off him at all costs.
"Where's the switch to the floodgates?" Impa asked Ruto, after pulling away from Bethany and joined the royal.
"Over by the lake house!" Ruto pointed to what almost reminded Impa of a small castle on the edge of the lake. At the same time, Ruto quickly put on strange silver like wristbands that had a scale pattern and blue crystals.
"This is hardly the time to put on jewelry!" Impa told her.
"These are the silver scales!" Ruto grinned and rushed ahead towards the oncoming monsters to demonstrate. As if she were like a dancer, she waved her arms out and sent out waves of water from her wristbands which knocked the monsters back. With the grace and elegance expected of someone of her status, Ruto almost danced around the monsters with a few spins and twirls, before she then created water underneath her, when she than swam through and charged through the horde as if the area was her own personal lake.
"Fascinating." Impa was impressed. Although the Zora girl came across as haughty, the General knew there was a reason that she became so well beloved in the history of the Zora tribe, and it was nice to actually see her in action.
In the frozen domain, Darunia was slamming his hammer every which way he pleased and he was quite enjoying himself as his hearty laughter seemed to echo the loudest above the chaos. "Don't worry my boys!" He called out. "We may be freezing in here, but we're definitely bringing on the heat!"
"Chieftain!" Darunia briefly glanced to see Geode rush into the fray. "I'd like to join in, if you don't mind!" He told him as he held out the fire rod. "It would be my honor!"
Darunia grinned. "Well then, don't just stand there! Turn the fire up a notch!"
With all the gleefulness of an excited child on his birthday, Geode swung the fire rod out and sent out jets of fire that blew into the stalchildren and lizalfos. To him, this was a lot better then whatever would have been waiting in the era of the sky, and though he knew Orick would give him an earful, he was having the best fun he ever had in ages.
Shadow stared at his surroundings in interest as everyone around him fought the good fight and he sang a certain tune he heard from the bombchu bowling alley, before noticing a house that looked like it was built into the rock wall. "Huh- I wonder if that's the fishing hole they kept praising about in this era."
"Ok, we made it!" Ruto and Impa ran to a monster infested area around the house, but they also found the switch. "Just let me work at it, and protect me!" Ruto ran ahead to the switch, while Impa turned her attention to the monsters and charged ahead.
A select number of soldiers fought near the fishing hole, and it was here that Link made his reappearance.
"Soldiers of Hyrule!" He yelled from the top of the building, and the soldiers looked up in confusion. "Flee from this temple! Drop your weapons and turn back!"
"Are you serious?!" Sir Winslow yelled at Link. "We're here to keep this mess from getting out of hand!"
"Yeah, what your saying is a load of bull!" Kay yelled as he smacked a monster in the face with his weapon. "We have no reason to believe you right now!"
"Oh, you certainly will when I get through with you pathetic fools!" Link's eyes narrowed before he walked away from the house.
"Got it!" Ruto finally pulled the lever of the switch down and moved back as the gears turned and the mechanisms of the flood gates turned and shuffled before the gates rose up. Almost i the water began to drain from the lake in record time and revealed the entrance to the temple under the furthermost island, along with a steep pathway. Those who were stationed near the fishing spot found a pathway that lead to a second entrance to the temple, but they recalled a certain warning and waited.
Immediately, a number of monsters were already escaping the temple and headed up the step pathway towards the rest of the battle. Despite the oncoming charge, only one person could see that some fun could come from this.
Shadow happily took out another bomb, which expanded when he held it over his head. Those who recalled what happened the last time he did this move stayed away from him as far as possible.
"Ten seconds!" Shadow sang and tossed the bomb down the steep pathway. It rolled down and squashed the monsters who weren't fast enough to run away from the bomb, before it entered the temple.
Seconds later, a huge explosion erupted from within the temple.
With a grin, Shadow rushed down the pathway and as soon as he entered the temple, he tore his cloak off and threw his hands out.
"Party time!" He yelled out as he created a dark version of Impa's sword and swung out at the monsters. Without the danger of the sun, Shadow could be as open as he wanted to, and his sadistic glee slowly built up as he went through his monsters, before his sword turned to Darunia's hammer.
"And smash!" Shadow shrieked as he crushed a monster before crackling with laughter. "Oh Nayru, do I love being alive!" He cheered as he swung the hammer around and into more monsters, before turning it into Zelda's sword and shield and ran ahead.
"Come!" Ruto yelled as she and Impa ran towards the temple.
"It's time to advance!" Impa yelled to her men, who quickly joined the two in their descent to the temple.
"If someone is masquerading as the prince, I'll find out who they are, before I slaughter them!" Impa growled.
"Your in luck!" Ruto told her. "The Hero of Time left the Lens of Truth in this temple some time ago!"
"The very one that sees through illusions?!"
"Yes!" Ruto grinned as the two entered the temple before she split off. "I'll go underwater and find it! We can meet back up later!"
"Hey, General Impa?" Aaron asked and pointed to Shadow, who was laughing as he went on a fast paced killing spree and sent monsters flying every which way. "Should we let him be? I think he can handle himself."
Impa sighed and turned her attention to the oncoming monsters from the east. "Let's get this over with."
Within two minutes, Ruto was able to maneuver the temple, thanks to memory and experience in the building, and finally located the Lens of Truth, which was hidden away. "Found you!" She grabbed it from it's hiding place in a chest and hurried through a shortcut to the front. "Now we can see whose wearing that handsome face." She firmly told herself.
She swam through a few corridors before she got out of the water and entered the middle section of the temple and saw Impa. "Hey!" she ran towards the Sheikah. "I got the-"
The doors slammed in front of her on their own and blocked the two women from reaching each other.
"Oh, of course." Ruto cursed and turned to see monsters appearing in the chamber she was now trapped in. "It figures they were planning to trap me here- they certainly have." She then turned to the doors and yelled "Go open the floodgates inside the temple! Seek out the keeps in the temple! Doing that should free me!"
"Hang in there!" Impa yelled before turning to her men. "Half of you come with me to search the east side."
"I'll have the west to myself, General!" Shadow yelled as if desperately wanting to be picked for a team. With gleeful laughing, he ran in that direction.
"We have the royal fish-brat: if you want her back, you all should drop your weapons and surrender." The voice of Link echoed throughout the temple as the Hyrulean knights tried to maneuver their way through the temple. "You may have a slight chance to over power my forces, but you were all too dumb to prevent the eras from being pulled out of the timeline!"
"What kind of coward takes hostages?!" Impa roared out. "You insult the name of the man you chose to hid behind!"
"And yet, the Triforce of Wisdom was in your possession, without you knowing it." Link's voice mockingly rang out. "Now how could that have possibly happened, hmm?"
Impa let out an angry roar and charged through- all monsters in her way were given no mercy.
What resulted on Impa's end was a frustrating excursion, because the temple was hard to search through, due to it's maze like design. While it was nice to have the extra help, the general and the knights were still met with waves of monsters, and even when they found the first switch, they had to turn back and charge through with the same force in order to get to the next switch.
Meanwhile, Shadow was having the time of his life. "Get them!" He yelled out as he sent out his clones to attack the monsters alongside him. With kid like glee, he even spun on the heel of his boot as he summoned out both Impa and Zelda's swords and sliced them through the monsters, before dashing forward with the blades out and allowed them to slice their way through more monsters. All this happened, right up until he found the first switch and flipped it so that the water in the temple could drain, but even then, he still wasn't done.
"Come at me, y'all!" He threw his arms out as the clones and duplicate weapons retreated back into his body. "I got the goods right here!" He then haunched over and bursted forward and changed his body so that it could turn into a dark wave which charged though the monsters before it reformed back into Shadow's more human form.
In the center of the temple, Ruto nervously watched as the monsters slowly approached her.
"I suppose..." Ruto dashed forward and summoned out enough water to create her own tidal wave, which she sent out into her opponents. She didn't know for sure if she could take them all out on her own, but it was better than nothing.
"I got a lot more to offer!" Shadow boasted as he ran to the next room with the switch and summoned out a dark version of a certain harp. "Face the music and fight me!" He smashed the harp into the face of a monster before smashing another one on his other side. With even more chaotic laughing, Shadow violently strummed the harp's strings repeatedly as he ran into the room as the monsters chased after him, before he finally gave the harp a hard strum with his hand, which he then threw out as a dark ring bursted from the harp and into the monsters.
"Who knew you could use an instrument for a weapon?" Shadow chuckled as he made the harp disappear. "We're almost in the third act boys and girls!" Shadow slammed the switch down before running to the area where he figured Ruto was nearby. "Come and watch while y'all still can!"
"Oh thank the goddesses!" Impa sighed in relief as she found the final switch and pressed it down. "I'm almost losing my mind here." She let out a nervous laugh and turned to face her men. "Between the layout of this place and listening to Shadow, I almost want to take a break."
"We can take over from here." One of them spoke. "Unless Shadow beats us to Ruto."
"I only stop when we close the gate and stop the impostor." Impa clutched the handle of her sword. "If you want to be useful, cover me until I find him, and keep fighting!"
Thanks to the combined efforts of the future warriors, the temple was now entirely empty of water, and Ruto was all too happy when Shadow ran through the now opened doors.
"I got rid of them, just in the nick of time!" Ruto happily grinned as she put the Lens of Truth into Shadow's hand. "Finally, I can get out of here!"
"Don't get too comfortable." Shadow was able to catch his breath and regain a little clarity after the rush of the fight.
"I am growing a little tired." Ruto admitted. "I'll leave the rest to you." She then turned and hurried to the other open doors, which lead to the outside of the temple.
"If you think we're going to carry you off, it ain't going to happen!" Shadow yelled to Ruto, who only waved her hand at him without looking, before he turned back to the huge chamber in the temple that he just came from.
"Now let's see if this works." Shadow held up the Lens of Truth, which revealed a secret chamber behind a wall which disappeared in a flash of light.
It was then that Shadow noticed Link in the hidden chamber, and behind the pale toned prince was a familiar looking portal. He didn't even hesitate to rush in and meet his counterpart, who was less than pleased to see him.
"It's nice to see you... "Link." Shadow's running turned to a walk as he mockingly made quotation marks with his fingers at the counterpart's name.
"How did you break my spell?!" Link asked, before he shook his head. "No mater. You brought this upon their pathetic heads." He then grinned as he yelled out. "My loyal servant, King Dodongo! Burn those fools to the bone! Go to the lakeside and kill them!"
All of Shadow's amusement dropped as he gave Link a cold death glare. "So that's how it is." He crossed his arms as a dark smoke escaped the mirror and slowly curled around him and turned everything it touched into pitch black. "You really are just a coward in disguise. Why not prove to me that you can handle us without your goons?'
Link shot his own glare as he took out his sword. "I have grown quite sick of seeing your face." He spat as Shadow slowly step towards him. "What kind of creature wouldn't join the winning side, with all that power at his disposal?!" He swung his sword out, but in that same amount of time, Shadow summoned a dark replica of that sword and copied Link's exact movement- causing the swords to clash.
Link tried to strike again, at a different angle, but Shadow also copied him and blocked him from attacking. Link then tried to bring the sword down, but Shadow again repeated the same gesture at the exact moment, as if he were a mirror.
"What are you doing?!" Link was flabbergasted as he tried to strike Shadow again.
Shadow smirked as he blocked the attack. "You forget," He told Link as the dark smoke crawled up his neck, before it engulfed his face. His form became completely black as if he were darkness itself, and his eyes not only became completely red, but they glowed brighter than they were had before. "I am a shadow, old bean. What do shadows do best?" He grinned.
The then enraged Link tried to attack Shadow, but the dark creature once again copied the move: and all of the moves that came after that.
-meanwhile-
"Oh come on- THIS AGAIN?!"
Once more, both Hylians and Gorons came face to face with a large Dodongo, but not for the same reasons.
"Well, if it isn't one of our old friends." Darunia grimaced before glancing to one of his men. "Tell me you guys brought the special crops."
"We sure did!" The Goron heartily held a bomb out. Darunia grinned before turning to face Dodongo, who slowly lumbered towards them. "Well, it looks like it's up to us."
"And me."
Darunia turned to see Ruto walk towards him until she stood by his side. "Let's give this creature a little something extra to face, shall we?" She asked as she held her arms out.
"Remember to wait for him to ready his fire breath." Darunia smirked. "We need him to recover from digestion first before we can go in."
"Of course." Ruto grinned as Dodongo tried to swipe at the Hylians and the Gorons, who quickly dodged his attacks. Dodongo retaliated by quickly spinning around and knocked back all who were close to him. Several of those victims let out yells as they flew backwards and those were who unlucky hit the rocks.
-in the temple-
Shadow and Link copied each other in perfect unison- or at least, whenever Link moved, Shadow would move too. When Link tired to walk away, Shadow would only follow him, and if Link tried to strike, Shadow would do the same.
"What game are you playing at?!" Link snarled as he tried to attack Shadow, who merely struck back in the same manner.
"Oh, no game." Shadow shook his head. "Just having a grand old time."
Again, Link tried to strike, but Shadow blocked him.
"Stop coping me!" Link yelled.
"Stop coping me!"
"What are you doing?"
"What are you doing?!"
"Are you serious?!" Link finally yelled and swung his sword out. "You are had the chance to join Ceiya, with all that power, and you settle for acting like an idiotic lunatic?! How in all of that's sanity did they put up such an annoying thing like you?!"
Shadow chuckled "That's actually ironic, when I think about it."
Link yelled and tried to thrust his sword into Shadow, but then the dark being leapt up high and landed on the sword. To further mock the pale counterpart, Shadow shuffled his feet on top of the blade as if dancing.
"ARGH!" Link swung the blade and Shadow black flipped off of it. "Fight me like a true warrior!"
"But I'm having so much fun!" Shadow whined like a small child who didn't want to do something, despite being told otherwise. "It's not every day you get to fight your mirror, you know?"
"No, I don't!" Link snarled and tried to swing at Shadow, who merely back flipped over him, before striking him in the back. It was at this moment that Impa finally reached the chamber and stopped to watch the battle unfold before her eyes.
"Why don't you just die?!" Link roared as finally slashed his sword through Shadow's stomach.
Shadow let out a sharp cry and ducked as he tried to block his wound with his arms.
"Ah, that's more like it!" Link grinned before he finally made to thrust his great sword into Shadow's stomach, and the being only had enough time to look up before the sword went into his stomach and came out through his back.
With an anguished cry, Shadow suddenly fell through the sword as if a knife was cutting him in half and Impa watched in horror as he slumped down into the very ground itself, until there was no trace of him.
"About time I shut him up." Link sighed in relief.
"What did you do to him?!" Impa yelled at Link, who turned to face her with a triumphant smirk. To Impa's surprise, she actually felt shock at the sudden loss of Shadow. True, he was unpleasant and annoying, but-
"All shadows must face the light, General." Link merely told Impa as he waved a finger at her. "You should know that."
Impa then took out her sword. "Link may have been arrogant and overconfident, but he was never as cruel as you have been."
"Oh spare me the comparison, General." Link sighed as a dark figure slowly rose from the floor, behind him. "I did you a favor in getting rid of that troublesome monster."
"Or did you?" Shadow asked as he took out the Lens of truth and held it out.
Link turned around in surprise, but it was too late. Pure light escaped from the lens of truth and caught the pale counterpart within it. He let out a scream as the light touched him and he struggled to escape, but it was no use. The spell that hid his true identity shattered to reveal a familiar looking monster in purple and gold jewelry.
-meanwhile-
Dodongo had curled himself into a ball and was rolling around the battlefield, while everyone was forced to run (or roll) for their lives.
"We have to get him now!" Ruto told Darunia after they kept their distance.
"Patience!" Darunia snapped as Dodongo uncurled himself and began to stumble towards them. "Most of his kind like to play with their opponents before they let out the fire!"
"Brother!" One of the Gorons who was carrying bombs in his arms ran to Darunia. "We got the bombs!"
"In a minute- we'll get our chance."
Dodongo then let out a furious roar that sent out a force strong enough to knock back his smaller opponents. It was right after that, the beast held his position and opened his mouth. A strange sound could be heard from within the beast, and that was when Darunia snatched a bomb from the Goron's arms and rushed forward. "Everyone get ready!"
At least five brave souls joined Darunia as Dodongo charged up, and once Darunia judged that he was close enough, he threw the bomb into the open mouth of the beast and at least two lucky bombs were able to go on in while the others only hit the thick hide of Dodongo before they exploded. Dodongo himself was forced to swallow the bombs and the materials in the explosives, combined with his fire, created a destructive reaction so severe that the beast fell to the ground.
"NOW!"
Darunia let Dodongo have it with his hammer and Ruto joined his side. The Zora princess sent strong water at the beast before she created a twirling cyclone that stunned her opponent.
"Get him!" A Hylian Knight yelled.
"Show that Dodongo whose boss!" A Goron yelled.
Those who belonged to both past and future cheered on as the leaders of both Zora and Goron gave Dodongo no chance to get up: Ruto's water knocked the beast's senses out of focus, while Darunia's hammer to the head kept the beast pinned down, with little time to get back up.
Finally, Darunia slammed his hammer into the ground, leapt up and rolled into the weapon which created a shockwave into the beast. Ruto then leapt onto Darunia and into the sky, before she sent out a barrage of both water into the beast and knocked it back until Dodongo let out it's death cry and exploded into dark smoke.
"Ha!" Ruto laughed. "It comes to show just what happens when you try to mess with us!"
-In the temple-
The light of the lens finally died, and Wizzro was free to move. He looked at the General and the shadow being in shock. "How did you-"
Suddenly, a black tendril shot out and tightly wrapped itself around Wizzro, who cried out in surprise. Impa turned in alarm to see that this tendril came from underneath Shadow's feet.
"I was hoping I'd get to face you in person." He told Wizzro as dark smoke slowly formed out of his body while he handed the lens of truth to Impa. All previous mirth that he had possessed had vanished, and was replaced with something cold and dark. "I let everyone else have a go at you. Now it's my turn and it's about bloody time too."
"What did I ever do to you?!" Wizzro asked in panic as the tendril tightened on him.
"Hmm, lets see." Shadow began as he slowly step towards Wizzro. "Your superior shattered the timelines and destroyed reality. That's pretty ambitious, but that's not the problem." He slowly raised his arms out as he slowly began to haunch his back, as if to prepare himself to pounce upon his prey.
"In this era, you posed as someone else, brainwashed the Gorons, and sent everyone out at each other. Despicable, but you could have acted like the person you were tying to be, to avoid detection." He chuckled as smoke escaped from his arms.
Suddenly, more dark tendrils shot out and wrapped themselves around Wizzro, and they tightened upon him.
"In our era, you tried to take over the kingdom and destroy a village while kill off all it's residents." Shadow's smile briefly turned into an angry scowl. "That makes me very angry... but that's not the reason for this."
"Than what is?!" Wizzro yelled as he struggled to escape- not even his magic could free him from this. Slowly, the darkness escaped from the mirror and surrounded Shadow. It formed behind him like a set of thorns or claws, which only further made him seem intimidating, but it was the intense hatred in Shadow's blood red eyes that truly made him seem like a monster. "What could I have possibly done to you- of all people- to get under your skin?!"
"You-" Shadow growled before bursting out in a tremendous fury "-HURT MY SISTER!"
Shadow threw his claw like hands out and crossed his arms together in a violent flourish as the darkness behind him copied his moved and slammed into Wizzro.
Impa watched in shock as the poe like creature let out a scream in the darkness, but Shadow wasn't done yet. As soon as the darkness faded to reveal Wizzro- who was still trapped by the tendrils, Shadow summoned out the replica of Link's helix sword and charged forward.
"NO ONE!" Shadow stabbed Wizzro straight through, before he leapt up into the air. He then threw his hands out and sent dark spiraling tendrils out from his body- along with the sword, which also turned into a tendril- and they went straight at Wizzro. "HURTS ARYLL!" He yelled as the darkness pierced the hateful monster, whose screams only worsened.
Shadow finally landed onto the ground as the tendrils retreated back into his body, allowing Wizzro to finally be free. The monster collapsed in a heap and could barely struggle to get up as the darkness left Shadow's body and retreated back into the mirror. Shadow once again looked like his normal self- or at least a dark version of the form of the person he was using.
"You better pray that you don't see me in this form again, or even think of hurting the people I care about." Shadow warned Wizzro, whose eye violently twitched, along with the rest of his body. "I'd kill you, but I think letting the message sink in is more gratifying, you know?"
With a moan and frantic scurrying away from Shadow, Wizzro finally sank into the ground, away from the now dangerous era.
Shadow finally sighed as fatigued hit him and he staggered for a moment. He held his face in his hands and took a moment to compose himself, while Impa kept staring in wonder at Shadow.
Was it possible that what he said-? But then why-?
"...L...Link?" Impa nervously asked.
Shadow rose his face out of his hands and gave Impa a tired, yet sheepish smile. while he wordlessly grabbed the mirror from his side and pulled it off from it's binds. Slowly, he raised it above his head and looked up as the darkness from before began to escape from it.
"You know-" Shadow began as the darkness turned into tendrils that slowly wrapped themselves around him, like a snake to it's prey. "I had fun embracing this persona and messing with y'all while it lasted." He grinned. "It's nice to be a little dark- yeah, a little too nice, but it was fun." He concluded as the darkness completely overtook him.
Seconds passed before the darkness turned to a light composed of blue, green, and yellow, which then retracted from the holder of the mirror. In place of Shadow holding the mirror was a very familiar young man who held the mirror up as the light escaped back into the mirror. His blue eyes opened and looked up to watch until every part of the light finally returned back into the mirror, before he turned his gaze to Impa and let his arm drop to his side.
"Hey, Impa." Link smiled and greeted her with a warmness that seemed so long ago, and yet not quite.
Impa stared, until she finally accepted what was before her eyes and managed to smile. "Your Highness." She greeted. "But- why did you not tell us sooner?"
Link held the mirror out for Impa to see. "When I was traveling with Linebeck." He began. "I heard word of a mirror that either contained dark powers, or could reflect what was inside a person's heart. Or even take you to another dimension. I went to search for it, and I wanted to study it's purposes, in case it posed a threat. Before the battle at the castle happened, I gave it to Aryll, for safe keeping."
-Weeks ago-
Aryll waited nervously out on the balcony as the battle on the field continued on. She feared for her brother and all of the knights- some of whom were close enough to almost be like family to the Royal Family themselves.
She turned her interests to the parcel Link gave to her. With curiosity, she opened it up and removed the cloth within to reveal a beautiful, yet unsettling looking mirror within it's contents.
"A mirror?" She asked as she touched the frame.
"You who touch the mirror." A voice suddenly rang out, and she almost dropped it in surprise. "Fear not: though your heart contains envy for your brother's freedom to travel, and frustrations of feeling inadequate, your heart is full of kindness and curiosity. Therefore, your future shall be clear, so long as you continue to keep your vices in check."
"...Thanks?" Aryll raised an eyebrow.
Suddenly, she could hear a crackling laughter, and Aryll looked up to see Wizzro.
"Your brother and your knights aren't here to save you, little princess!" Wizzro chuckled as he sent a wave of dark magic out, which then struck Aryll. The girl went flying into the wall and the mirror flew out of her hands and scattered across the ground before it came to a stop.
"Aryll!" Link then appeared at the balcony as the green magic of Farore's Wind died away. He saw Aryll slumped against the wall and he turned to Wizzro with a strong desire to kill him.
"Oh, you just had to ruin my fun!" Wizzro snarled as he charged at the older sibling. Link yelled as he swung his sword out and charged after the dark wizard.
Aryll finally regained consciousness to see the fight between her brother and the wizard. She could see that Link- in his anger- was thrashing at Wizzro like a madman, and she began to worry that the fight would not be in his favor. She tried to recall the spells she was taught, but without two of the crystals or the Wind Waker to amplify what magic she did possess, she was left powerless in all but one spell.
Suddenly, Link was knocked aside by a wave of magic and he was sent across the balcony, near the mirror.
"And now for you, my sweet princess!" Wizzro crackled as Aryll turned in alarm to see a ring of magic orbs form around him. Aryll struggled to recall her magic as she scrambled towards her brother, and concentrated as she grabbed the only crystal on her being.
"YAH!" Wizzro sent out the magic towards the siblings.
"ARYLL!" Link yelled in panic as he scrambled to get up and accidentally placed his hand upon the surface of the mirror.
"NAYRU'S LOVE!" Aryll yelled and held her hand out, which contained a blue crystal that began to shine.
A diamond like shield covered Aryll and sent the dark magic right back at Wizzro, who was forcefully knocked back with a screech and fell over the balcony.
"Link!" Aryll turned to face her brother as the diamond around her faded away. Link, however, had other problems: dark tendrils suddenly shot out of the mirror and wrapped themselves around the hand that was on it's surface.
"Your soul is full of arrogance, ego, and pridefulness, you who touch the mirror." The voice of the mirror spoke out as dark tendrils continued to grow and wrap around Link's arm as he struggled to pull away from them. "You deny the aid and the voices of those who wish to help you. Such ill vices would bring a warrior and future king to ruin."
"Link?!" Aryll asked as she got up and ran to Link's aid, but her brother threw his arm out.
"STAY BACK!" He cautioned.
The tendrils grew and, without warning, Link was suddenly sucked into the mirror until he was gone from the world while Aryll let out a scream of horror.
She held her hands to her mouth as she stared at the mirror- it's surface was pitch black. She didn't know what to do and she didn't know if she should get help or wait, but touching the mirror was out of the question. Instead, she could only wait and pray that her brother was safe.
Suddenly, the darkness escaped from the mirror, but this time it expanded into a sickly mass which was spewed out onto the ground. The darkness then retreated back into the mirror and left behind a person who was familiar and yet not quite.
It was Link, but his features had changed: green turned to black, blue to purple, and gold hair was now purplish black. Aryll nervously looked on at this polar opposite, who looked ragged and torn, compared to the former neatness and majesty of her brother's appearance.
Red eyes slowly opened and the figure before Aryll let out a groan of discomfort before he glanced up at her.
"A...Ar..yll?" His voice came out in a sickly wheeze. He slowly pushed himself off the ground, but he noticed how his hands looked different and even claw like and turned to Aryll in alarm.
Aryll let out a sudden gasp and rushed to her brother and hugged him. "You're still here." She breathed. "Thank Farore, you're still alive."
Shocked, the figure that was Link- or still was- slowly returned the hug.
"I'm still here." He hesitantly reassured her, though it felt more like he was trying to reassure himself.
But there was some hesitation as his mind swarmed with questions.
"Are you ok?" Aryll asked as she still hugged Link.
"...Don't tell anyone what happened- I don't know if you're even safe with me anymore."
"Huh?" Aryll looked at her brother in confusion as he pulled away from her and snatched the mirror away.
"If I can, then I promise I'll come back." He glanced to her one last time and squeezed her shoulder before he ran and jumped off the balcony.
"L..Link?" Aryll asked as she got up and hurried to look over the balcony, but Link- or what was left of Link- had vanished without a trace.
-now-
"So she knew all that time..." Impa realized. "And she never even told us."
Link looked at the mirror one more time as he continued to explain. "My real body was inside the mirror, while my spirit was entwined with the powers of the darkness- that's how I could do most of the things I did. The downside was that I couldn't walk in sunlight without feeling pain."
Link then put the mirror away. "I'll explain the rest later, but for now, we should focus on closing the gate." He turned towards the gate but then turned to Impa.
"I'm sorry... I really did think that I could do everything on my own, without anyone's help. It took this quest and a cursed mirror to tell me otherwise." He held a hand out. "So... we should do this together, right?"
Impa smiled. "It's good to have you back." She held her hand out also.
The two focused their energy into the spell, which then was sent into the gate and took on the form of yellow symbols, before the gate vanished altogether.
-outside-
All of the knights and Gorons were exhausted by the time the monsters suddenly retreated, and they were thankful for that. The injured were being quickly attended to, while those who were in the temple re-joined them.
"Hey- thanks." Darunia turned to Ruto as he sat down on the ground and rested an arm over his hammer.
"You're welcome." Ruto sat down beside him. "We- we really showed that thing, didn't we?"
"Yeah." Darunia laughed and glanced to Geode, who was helping to attend the injured as best as he could. "But we couldn't have done it without their help."
'I can't wait to get back home." Sir Winslow rested against the rocks, next to Bethany as she took some pictures. "I don't care if we just saved the past: I just want to sit on the couch and take a nap."
"Agreed." Bethany nodded.
Meanwhile, at the laboratory by the lake, Aaron went to knock on the door. "Hey, is anyone in there? The monsters are gone."
The door opened to reveal an almost comical looking old man. "Hmmm?" He peered up at the knight. "We heard a strange racket out there."
"Yeah." Aaron nodded. "We were just checking in on everyone and making sure all is accounted for." He then noticed someone walk up behind the professor: a pretty plump young woman with circular glasses. The second he locked eyes on her, he recognized the girl. "Rosette?!"
"Is that you Aaron?" Rosette tilted her head. "What on earth are you-"
"Holy-!" Aaron turned back to yell "KAY! I FOUND HER! ROSETTE'S HERE!"
The frustrated knight in question turned around, but the second he heard his friend's words, he felt his heart stop and raced towards the lab. Likewise, the young woman carefully maneuvered around the professor and ran out of the lab and only ran faster when she saw Kay.
"KAY!" She cried out and threw her arms out.
All eyes turned to watch as Kay ran and embraced the girl he had been so worried about the whole entire time.
"Oh Din, Rose!" Kay moaned in happiness. "When I saw the mountain appear, I was scared out of my head for you!"
"It's ok!" Rosette squeezed the knight as tightly as she could. "I ran as fast as I could, and I escaped to the lake! I was with a kind professor and he's been nice to me as if I were his own child!"
It was a little moment as if out of a story that brought out some weary, yet happy smiles for those who could manage it.
Finally, Impa and Link walked out of the temple. Impa walked ahead, but Link hesitated when he saw that he was about to step away from the protection of the shadow and into the sunlight.
"Is something wrong?" Impa turned when she heard that Link stopped and turned. The young man appeared to be thinking about something.
Link closed his eyes, took a deep breath and stepped out into the sunlight.
He continued to walk up the pathway along with Impa, but he internally went over the almost incredibly face that, for the first time in what felt like ages, the sunlight felt warm and pleasant, rather than like he was thrown into a stinging fire that ate up every inch of his body.
As soon as everyone saw who was with Impa, there was some shock, along with distrust, after all that had happened.
"The 'Link' you saw was Wizzro in disguise." Link spoke out as loudly as he could for all to hear, even if he knew that half these people would want to punch him in the face in a minute. "Shadow was the disguise I was using to figure out what was going on. I know that I should have told you all when this whole time travel mess first started, but now it's all over."
As he guessed, there were some gasps, some eyebrows raised or furrowed, and there were some heads shaking in disbelief.
"Well holy cow." Bethany smirked.
"It was actually obvious to me." Winslow admitted. "I was just waiting to see if I was correct."
Link walked to Darunia and Ruto, and he respectfully bowed before them. "I owe you all an apology. That impostor was from our era: seeing as there was chance that this could have been prevented if I told the others sooner, this may as well have been all my fault." He raised back up. "I understand if you don't forgive me."
"Ah, it's fine." Darunia waved his hand. "This era has a funny thing with time traveling and a potential disastrous future coming into play, so we believe you."
"I suppose I can forgive you." Ruto crossed her arms. "Though I'm annoyed at what happened to my domain."
"We are going to leave here as soon as we can." Link glanced to the others as Impa stood beside him. "We caused enough trouble here. I really wish I knew what it was that Ceiya wanted from this era, but it couldn't have been a good thing if it was trapped here."
Both were silent for a moment.
"You... said you were from the future, right?" Darunia asked as he stood up. "I don't know why, but something is telling me to go with you guys."
Link and Impa looked at the Goron in alarm as he explained. "I'm guessing you know about the war seven years ago and the cause of it. I guess if I had been a bit more active, we could have helped to prevent a lot of deaths from happening." He frowned at the memories before he smiled. "Plus, I want to help you guys out. You seem like the right kind of people to hang out with. And besides- it's about time we help protect the future, instead of the other way around."
"If he's going, I'm going." Ruto shot up from the ground. "I mean, it's not because I like you guys or anything." She bit her lip. "But you helped us, and someone needs to pay for what they did to my domain."
"Are you sure?" Impa asked them as she thought of the consequences that this would create. "It might ruin your own futures, and there were certain... long term consequences from that war that effected our history."
"At this point, you need all the help you can get." Darunia grinned as he hoisted his hammer over his shoulder. "And we should show your era what we 'old timers' can do."
-Outtake special-
-How to slack off at Lake Hyl- actually, you already know this one-
"You know, there's something I wanted to do." Link suddenly spoke out. "Ever since we came to this era, there's been one thing I wanted to do."
"Oh?" Impa turned in interest. "What exactly was that? We can't exactly visit much of this era of Hyrule, and we've seen all of Death Mountain and Lake Hylia."
Link suddenly cracked a grin. "Or did we?"
Half an hour later, a huge number of Gorons and Hylians were close to breaking the number of persons limit at a huge fishing hole. Some of them were fishing while trying to avoid each others lines and lures, others chose to just watch from a safe distance by the counter, and Aaron somehow took out a guitar and strummed a few chords while Kay played his harmonica as Rosette rested against him.
Needless to say, the owner of the establishment was torn between being perplexed by all the recent events, or happy to get a large number of customers.
"...You wanted to fish." Impa flatly asked Link as he reeled in his lure.
"Yeah, so?" Link nonchalantly shrugged.
"...You wanted to fish." She repeated. "Of all the things you wanted to do, it was this."
"Oh, I got one!" Darunia cheered as he struggled to pull in a fish.
"How come your here?" Bethany asked Ruto as the two watched. "Isn't this similar to torture or something for your species?"
"We eat fish." Ruto told her. "It's no different than a shark eating one."
"Ah, food chain in progress." A fellow Goron nodded in realization.
"We don't have time for this!" Impa snapped at Link. "By Din, I'd think that you would have other matters in mind."
"Hey, if y'all are happy, and time doesn't flow that much, than why the rush?" Link gave Impa such a cheeky grin, that she swore that Link wasn't done being Shadow just yet. "I think that General Impa should take a breather for a moment." He held the fishing rod out to the Sheikah.
If he was still Shadow, Impa would have punched him in the face. Instead, she was trying to fight a sudden migraine.
Moral of the chapter: If you hurt someone, then gods have mercy on your soul if their loved ones come after you. Disney taught us that something like that can be very scary.
Did you correctly guess how Shadow could be Link?
The mirror comes from Four Swords Adventures (game and manga), though the concept of Link's vices are from Hyrule Warriors and some of Shadow's non-canon powers were of my own creation. The blue cloak that Shadow kept wearing is from the old Zelda comic 'The price of power' in which Link was getting corrupted by the Triforce of Power, to the point that he was almost literally turning into a monster like Ganon. The verbal tic 'y'all' is from an old online translation of the Four Swords manga, before Viz gave out the english version.
Link will explain a little of Shadow's personality and behavior in the next chapter. So long for now Shadow... oh wait: he's about to show up in Time's Trade. *rubs hands together*
Our next chapter is the big, awkward, and highly interesting reunion- we aren't jumping to the Master Sword chapter just yet. First, we need to see what Nabrooru and Saria got up to, while everyone had their 'fun.'
So again: do you guys want those three Twili OCs to stay on board and aid the cause? Or just keep it canon and have only Zant and Agitha come from the Twilight era? I won't be posting the next chapter until sometime near mid-August. Things are requiring me to be posting monthly pretty soon, so updates wont be as frequent.