mysteriousguy898: Maybe the Gerudo already have a bunch of cool gadgets and didn't want any of the 'useless junk.' They DID take Link's stuff away in the manga when he got thrown in jail.
DragonRaider97: You're welcome. :) I hope the rest of the story will continue to be enjoyable to you and the others.
HeroAlexa249: Well in the canon version, Zelda IS part ninja, so it would make sense here. Ugh, Nintendo why can't you release a video game of Zelda as Sheik between those 7 years? It could be an awesome stealth based game!
Oh, and I think you might enjoy the boss fight here.
And this is where I take liberties with the story again.
Chapter 14: The mothers of evil
Shadow felt like he was going to vomit, but how could he when he could barely move his body?
The witches had their fun of tugging and pulling in and out of the sunlight to the point that almost every inch of him had turned completely black and parts of his body had been exposed to the point that he couldn't feel them anymore. When he tried to drag his hand across the ground, his fingers left a trail of dark smudges like charcoal on paper.
If he waited long enough, he could recover and regrow anything lost since technically this body was made of a substance that came from the mirror. It still hurt and it got to the point where he literally cried from the pain, like he was doing right now.
"Pathetic." Koume sighed. "Our son would have lasted longer than this. This one isn't even a man- look how he cries like a pathetic new born!"
"We can brake his body, but what about his spirit, hmm?" Kotake wondered.
"D..do y-your-" Shadow wheezed "w-w-wors-" he gave up. It took everything just to talk.
"Fine then!" Koume grinned. "Let's see just how devoted you are to your 'Princess'!"
"We know she's searching for the sages." Kotake grinned. "Eventually, she'll have to return to the old town to confront Ganondorf."
Shadow opened his eyes to reveal that the redness in them began to pore out and take over the white. It required a bit of the darkness to try to keep him from dying, to the point that it was effecting part of his physical form, but even that couldn't keep him from feeling this awful.
"And once she does, an army of monsters will be waiting for her! They'll overpower her and she'll be too exhausted to fight Ganondorf when he comes to deliver the final blow!"
"Oh, even better!" Koume then gave Shadow a grin that sickened him to the core. "What if... we get to make her our puppet like we did to that dragon? Or better yet, Ganondorf get's to decapitate her like he did to the queen of Hyrule and give it to you as a keepsake?"
Shadow's eyes widened, but that was all he could manage to do. If he could, he would have lashed out at the witches, but for once his condition came into his favor to prevent him from doing so, and he laid still.
"I think this is getting boring." Koume sighed as she turned to her sister. "Send him away."
Both sisters failed to see the dark glare flare up in Shadow's eyes before they sent him away in a burst of magic; however, they also knew that everything was about to go to plan.
"Now let's tell Ganondorf that the brat took the bait." Kotake snickered as she readied another spell.
-meanwhile-
I finally returned back to the desert as an adult and now I was in the temple and in front of the large stone blocking my way into the left side of the chambers.
And I also had a new pair of accessories on my arms.
"Alright, let's see how well these work." I cracked my knuckles and shook my fingers out before I approached the huge stone block in the middle of the opening of the right hall. I placed my hands on the stone and took a dee breath before I pushed up against it.
It worked- it actually, honest to Nayru worked! I was able to push the huge block half a foot away from where it was positioned.
"That's awesome!" Ivan cheered as for once he was not trying to question how something that seemed impossible.
"I love these!" I grinned at the gauntlets before I eagerly continued to push the stone away until it fell into a huge hole on the other side and permitted me to walk over it and into the other side of the hall.
"Alright, now let's see what fun there is to be had in this temple, now that I'm an adult." I clapped my hands together.
-Rolling boulder room-
"This looks intimidating, but this is nothing!" I tried to reassure myself as I watched three or so boulders roll back and forth in a room while avoiding the small gaps in the walls. One quick glance of the silver rupees told me what had to be done in here.
It was actually a fun puzzle.
-mirror room (one of many)-
"Ok, I see a huge mirror with more sun switches." I stated as I observed the room. Thinking that I knew what to do, I headed to the mirror, when all of the sudden something knocked right into me and I found myself falling to the ground.
"What the-?" I glanced around, but there was nothing that could have hit me.
Unless...
I took out the lens of truth and saw a large disembodied hand about half my size bouncing up and down on the floor, but I could sense that it was looking at me.
"What is it?" Ivan asked.
Realizing that Ivan would have a heart attack if I told him, I quickly got up and proceeded to smite the large hand that my companion hated with all of his being.
Oh come on, do you really think it would have been funny for me if I let him?
-Iron Knuckle part 2-
...
...
... Why do the goddesses hate me so?
-ten minutes later-
Once more, we found ourselves outside on one of the hands of the Sand Goddess, which also bore a chest. Inside that chest was the very mirror shield that Kaepora Gabora told me about.
"Cool." I grinned as I held it up to examine the silvery surface with the Gerudo insignia etched upon it.
"Yeah, don't try to examine yourself too much with that." Ivan joked.
"Yeah, well maybe the monsters will get distracted by their reflection and either get too vain to attack or will run off in fright!" I countered.
"If they ran into any traps, then I'll laugh my butt off." Ivan cracked back. "Still, I can see this being used to reflect the sunlight we keep seeing in this temple. Seriously, why is this place of worship filled with traps?"
"It's a tribe of thieves Ivan. End of story."
He gave up.
-Moving Wall Trap-
"Uh..." I nervously looked up at the wall with sections that kept shifting into spikes.
This was going to be hard, wasn't it?
-Sometime lat-
-You know, I should sue the writer for making me say 'later' too many times. I should have been getting paid by the word for this. A rupee for each word, and 20 for every time I'm forced to write 'later'-
You are totally getting paid, Larry. I have way too many rupees from Hyrule Warriors to keep to myself and I can't use them as currency in the real world.
-You don't even care about writing out these temples and your making me write 'later' each time. You should owe me 80 rupees just through saying it four times in this stupid-
-Please resume your job, Larry. The readers are probably getting annoyed-
-Fine. (Stupid fan fic writer.)-
-In yet another mirror chamber puzzle-
"Ok, I think I can guess what this puzzle will be like." I glanced at the large mirror at the right of the room, as well as a set of chains that were near it. Being the idiot that I was at the time, I didn't bother to glance down the ledge and went ahead to smack the crystal behind the bars with my sword, in order to open up up the door ahead of me.
Our observations told us that the puzzle would involve another case of manipulating the light from outside with the use of a mirror. I finally was able to manipulate the light to aim at the large mirror behind the bars-
-And that was when I heard a very familiar scream of pain.
"Oh crud, I forgot that Shadow was here!" I cursed as I raced back to the mirror room as fast as I could, with Ivan trailing behind me.
When I entered the correct room, I jumped down the ledge, only to find that Shadow was not only chained to the chains that went from floor to ceiling, but he looked charred like he was a piece of burnt meat that had been cooked for too long, or a piece of charcoal.
I didn't even hesitate to quickly tear my cloak out and covered Shadow up, but it wasn't enough, as it barely covered his body.
"What do I do, what do I do?!" I looked around and noticed a sun. Having no idea what else to do, I bounced the light from the mirror shield onto it, and the chains lowered the platform we were on down into the room of the goddess. In the meantime, I was able to gently push Shadow away from the sunlight, but I noticed that as I did, his body left behind a trail of black markings up on the ground.
"What happened to you?!" Ivan asked as he flew to Shadow's side. Good Nayru, Shadow looked awful- his face was almost completely pitch black, even though patches of it were slowly fading back to it's natural hue, and his eyes were fully red.
The dark being quit writhing and was able to slowly look between my partner and I. It look all of his strength to finally speak to us.
"I... want-" He gulped "-to punch old ladies in the face."
"He must have seen the witches." Ivan interpreted the insult.
"D-Din-" Shadow moved a trembling hand to his chains and struggled to point at the section that connected him to the other chains. "F-f-fire."
I took the hint and set the chain on fire with the magic crystal. The chain snapped and he was no longer connected to it, but he was still covered in chains.
"Ok, give me a minute." I glanced at the beam of light I was in and looked out to see the statue's face.
"Oh," I realized and bit my lip. "I hope the Gerudo can forgive me for this." I aimed the mirror shield at the face and watched as the face cracked, crumbled, and broke apart to reveal a gate behind the face.
"Uh, that didn't count as a hate crime, does it?" Ivan asked. "We just destroyed the statue of a Gerudo goddess."
I went to help take the chains off Shadow, though I was stumped as to how to get him out of here.
"How aren't you dead?!" Ivan asked Shadow. "You look like a crispy fried cuccoo gone wrong!"
Shadow was able to glare at Ivan as he pointed to the mirror. "M-mirror- magic."
"Hey, do you mind if I carry you?" I asked. When Shadow didn't respond, I tried to hold him against me. As I did, I realized that he felt lighter than he should have been, and any part of him that touched me left behind what looked like black soot.
"We got to get him out of here as soon as possible." I grimaced, before I used the long shot to make my way to the secret door in the goddess.
"Hey, you don't think he's the sage, do you?" Ivan asked me before I opened the door. "I hate to say it, but you know how it goes with them."
"If it ends his suffering, then I won't mind it." I confessed as I opened the door to find myself in a familiar looking room.
And across the room were two witches that were tending to another Iron Knuckle- the very same witches who sucked Nabooru into a vortex seven years ago.
"Aw crud." Ivan groaned as the representative to what was on our minds. This alerted the witches, who turned to face us.
"Ho ho ho!" The blue witch turned around with a laugh. "Looks like someone is here, Koume!"
"Hee hee hee!" The red witch did the same thing. "Looks like it, Kotake!"
They both got on their brooms and floated into the air. "What an outrageous fellow she is, to intrude so boldly into our temple!" Kotake laughed. "And look- the piece of charcoal is still alive!"
"And I see you're still wrinkled old bags!" Shadow wheezed out in a laugh.
"What did you do to him?!" I demanded.
"Oh, we got what we needed from him!" Koume snickered. "But seeing as you both are just as good as dead as you are alive to our son, we should let our servant deal with you and teach you a lesson!"
They turned to the Iron Knuckle and flew next to it. "Oh loyal minion... Destroy this intruder on our behalf!"
The two vanished into two flames. In turn, the Iron Knuckle suddenly came to life and raised his arms up, before it realized something was missing.
I let out a chuckle as it looked at his hands in confusion. "Pfft!" Ivan let out a laugh.
Then it snapped it's fingers and made it's axe appear in it's hand and we both shut up.
"Here!" I quickly hurried to a corner and set Shadow on the ground as I heard the Iron Knuckle make it's way towards me.
"W-wait!" Shadow forced himself to reach into his mirror and pulled out a blue crystal. "It's a barrier!" He sighed and collapsed against the wall.
I quickly spun around with the crystal in my hand and watched as I became incased in a blue diamond. Not knowing what to expect, I took the Master Sword out and got ready for the same tactic as before.
"Wait a minute!" Ivan cautioned. "Something's not right about this one!"
"What?" I turned around in confusion, but this allowed the Iron Knuckle to slam it's axe right into me. Or at least it would have, if the axe didn't bounce into the crystal. The force sent me hurling right into the wall, right next to Shadow.
As Ivan let out a string of horrified curses, I gave Shadow a thumbs up before I pushed myself off the ground and returned back into the fray.
This time Ivan stayed quiet as I fought the Iron Knuckle. Unlike the last two, this one seemed a lot quicker and had less difficulty hurling the axe around, which meant I had to be extra cautious. I was able to land a few blows, but eventually the crystal barrier faded and I had to be even more cautious. It didn't help that this Iron Knuckle seemed determined to kill me.
"Heyah!" I yelled as I finally struck my sword down onto the head of the Iron Knuckle.
The helmet split in half and the armor fell off the Iron Knuckle and burned away when it touched the ground and gradually revealed that a Gerudo woman had been inside it the whole time.
I stared as she fell to her knees and was gasping for air. It was when she looked up with a look of alarm that I was able to recognize her- she looked as if she barely aged, yet it was clear that time had enhanced her beauty.
"Nabrooru?!" I asked.
Her eyes were wide as she tried to comprehend her surroundings. "Wh-where am I?" She asked.
Before anyone could say a word, the blue witch materialized at Nabooru's right. The Gerudo turned around with a look of fear in her tensed features and looked ready to run for it.
"Well, well..." Kotake said. "Looks like she's back to normal Koume."
"She's just a little girl, but she commands a lot of respect among the Gerudo, Kotake." The red witch noted as she appeared.
"Maybe we should make her work for the Great Ganondorf for a little longer, Koume." Kotake laughed.
"Then we should brainwash her again!" Koume crackled.
"I'd rather be dead than be a puppet for you two hags ever again!" Nabrooru snarled in anger. "I hope you both wrinkle away until you dry in the sun! And you can tell Ganondorf that I hope he chokes on someone's sword for all that he put us through!"
"Oh that's it!" Koume snarled as she and an equally angry Kotake readied a spell.
Nabrooru got up and bolted for the exit, but before I could do anything to help, the witches sent out a burst of magic towards the girl and I watched as their combined magic hit Nabooru and everything turned white as I heard her let out a scream.
When everything returned to normal, all that remained of Nabrooru was an orange light that vanished and let out a trail of sparkles in it's wake.
"Well be waiting for you, pink child!" Koume spoke as I turned in horror to face the witches. "Face us if you dare!"
"Unless you're too afraid of facing a similar fate!" Kotake laughed as the two vanished from the room.
The bars ahead of me moved away from the door to allow me access into the final chamber. Meanwhile, I was trying to comprehend what just happened to Nabrooru: did they transport her away, or did they really just-
"Zelda, wait!" I heard Shadow wheeze.
I went over to Shadow, who seemed to be slowly regaining his ability to breathe normally and his injuries had turned from pitch black to dark gray, but he still seemed unable to do much, other than try to grab something out of his mirror. "What is it?" I asked as I knelt beside him. His eyes were slowly regaining their natural look as the redness retreated back into the pupils and revealed the natural whiteness once more.
"After you meet the next sage," He began as he withdrew his hand from the mirror and held what looked like a green crystal "I'm going to be at the entrance of the temple." He held the crystal to his chest. "Come and find me."
"Sure." I nodded as I carefully put my hand on his shoulder for reassurance, before I got up and walked towards the door.
"And how is he going to get back?" Ivan demanded to me. "He's too injured to move!"
There was a sound of wind blowing, and I only turned in time to see a flash of green where Shadow was, before the flash vanished and him with it.
I recalled seeing that green flash before, but at that time I couldn't point a finger on it.
I turned back and continued on my way. I passed through the door and through a hallway, before coming into a very spacious room filled with platforms. Upon the room's walls appeared to be strange glowing symbols which looked like the Gerudo alphabet.
"Alright, here we go." I crawled my way up the largest platform and hoisted myself up, before walking to the center, where some sort of circular diagram had been created.
"This place reeks of ritual mumbo-jumbo." Ivan grumbled.
"Look at that stupid kid!" A voice belonging to one of the witches rang out with a laugh. "She came to offer herself as a sacrifice to the great Ganondorf!"
Two opposing platforms then had a set or runes light up on their surface. One red, the other blue.
"With my flame, I will burn her to the bone!" I turned in time to see Koume raise up out of the red runes. She spun on her broom mid air and in a blast of magic, her hair turned into actual fire.
"With my frost, I will freeze her to her soul!" I turned the other way and Kotake did the same as her twin, only this time her hair turned into ice.
I quickly recalled what Kaepora Gaebora told me to do against these witches as they each went to my platform and twirled around me. Was it my imagination, or did they grow twice my size?
"You brainwashed Nabrooru for almost seven years!" I yelled as I readied my sword. "I bet you did the same to Ganondorf!"
"We never did such a thing!" Koume crackled as she and her sister flew around the room. "He had the potential for greatness and we forced him to bring it out! He has proven to be far better than any king we have seen in our tribe and more ruthless than any of our girls!"
"The useless tart that birthed him would have held him back!" Kotake joined. "We encouraged him and taught him the dark arts, when the others weren't looking!"
"His hatred for your lot is as pure as it is his own!" Koume yelled as she threw a blast of magic at me. I ran away in time and watched as the floor became engulfed in a layer of what looked like lava. "We deserve to have your lands to thrive!"
"Our Sand Goddess never helped us!" Kotake then threw a blast of ice magic that I hurried to avoid and leapt onto another platform. This magic covered the floor in a layer of ice. "She turns a deaf ear on our pleas, and so we turn her backs on her. The only true deity who gives us strength is that of Demise! His hatred inspires us to claim what we desire!"
While I had no idea what the blue witch told me, I began to understand how to use their magic against them with the mirror shield. I waited until Koume readied her fire spell and once she sent a jet of fire at me, I rose the shield up and the jet bounced right off of it. I quickly aimed the jet at Kotake, who let out a yell when she was hit.
"Got one." I grinned.
I waited for another chance and sure enough Kotake tried to do the same thing to me, but I reflected a jet of ice magic at Koume.
"How is she doing that?!" Kotake yelled in frustration.
"It's that shield!" Koume snarled. "One of those idiots left it in the temple!"
"It must have been Nabrooru, the little whelp!" Kotake agreed.
The battle between me and the witches went on for awhile, but they eventually got smart and were able to trick me. After a few attacks from my part (some of which I was unable to use against them, because they weren't in view.) Koume began to ready a spell, but then I felt something cold crawl up one of my legs and she let out a laugh.
I turned around and stared in horror as my leg became incased in ice.
Kotake laughed. "Ha! This is just like when we encased that owl in ice seven years ago!"
"What owl?!" Ivan asked as I struggled to pull free.
"The one who kept helping the pink girl! He kept flying her to different locations!"
"We knew he was helping to thwart Ganondorf!" Koume laughed. "So we froze him before he could take the girl to the prince! Perhaps if we hadn't done that, you would have won this war, but we couldn't let that happen!"
I only stopped my struggle when I heard this. "Y-you did what?!"
"Oh please!" Kotake rolled her bug like eyes. "We could have froze a limb off or burned him alive- what we did was tame in comparison."
"It doesn't matter what we do to you, so long as you are out of Ganondorf's way." Koume added. "If anything, it would be fun to brainwash you, like we did to Nabrooru."
"Or that dragon!" Kotake also threw in. "He was a lot of fun to have on our side, until some girl killed him."
I felt everything stop when I realized what they were saying.
"You... you were the one's who-?"
"Li...Link?"
"I'd rather be dead than be a puppet for you two hags ever again!"
The voices of their victims ran in my head as the witches both joined in an holy high pitched laugh that was awful in my ears.
Finally my leg came free from the ice, but now I was mad.
I had no clue just how close I was to preventing all of this. I had no idea that these two were directly responsible for why I didn't make it in time. Not only did these two have a hand in all of that, but what they did to Volvagia and Nabrooru was unforgivable.
"You brainwashed and killed people!" I roared. "People who did nothing wrong to your tribe! You do this all for fun and you raised Ganondorf to be no better than you, if not worse!"
"And you think you and all your Hylian kin are better than us?!" Koume snapped. "How many have you killed to get to this point!"
"Then stop turning people into your slaves and face us!" I yelled. "Face me! You were already too cowardly to just kill me off as a child, and even now you still can't do it!"
"What the heck are you doing?!" Ivan hissed at me as the witches became mad.
"Fine, you little worm!" Koume snarled. "You want to see the true power of a Gerudo?! You asked for it! Ok, let's get serious now, Kotake!"
"Oh, ok, Koume!"
The twins began to fly around in a circle above me and slowly came together until they began merging together in their own magic. "Kotake and Koume's Double Dynamite Attack!"
In a blast of their combined magic, they became one woman who looked a lot younger than either them, was dressed more like the younger Gerudo, and even sported hair of fire and ice, along with two staffs in her hands.
"Wh-" I heard Ivan gapping. "Wh-what did they just-"
"Do you like this form, little fairy man?" The woman asked in a voice that was easier on the ears as she smirked with a wink. "We have seduced many weak minded opponents this way- even the king of Hyrule himself!"
I swore that I could hear a loud retching noise from Ivan, like he was going to vomit.
"This is the power of Twinrova." She told me as she floated to one of the platforms. "This is the power of the dark arts forbidden to your pathetic kind!" She swung a blue staff at me, and I quickly got my shield up as a blast of ice came right at me. My shield started glowing white and began making a weird 'whae-whae' sound.
I guessed that it meant that it needed to absorb more of the same magic. I waited until Twinrova sent another blast of ice magic at me and the sound my shied made sped up.
A third time later, my shield spewed out a gust of ice that knocked Twinrova out of the air and onto a platform. I was nearby and leapt onto it to let loose a string of attacks, though she let out a strange cry each time that I did.
"Pah! You think you can just use my magic right back at me?!" She snarled as she took to the air. "Don't get cocky, little girl!"
The second time around, she tried using her fire magic at me. Once she was about to swing her fire staff at me for what would seem to be the third time, she quickly switched staffs and I was forced to make a run for it.
"See! What did I tell you!"
Then why was she so stupid to use the fire magic at me after that mishap? Once again I knocked her down with her own fire magic and let her have it before she regained her senses and took to the air again.
Wait a minute.
"I'm going to kill whoever built this temple!" He swore to me. "We went through so many traps, and now we-"
There was a flash of green and suddenly we were back at the first room of the temple.
"-have to go all the way- WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!" Ivan glanced around. "How in Farore's name did we just get back down here?!"
That was where I saw that green light before! It was at the fire temple!
"I refuse to be beaten by a wheat haired, pale faced brat from Hyrule!" Twinrova snarled. "I will kill you in the most agonizing way possible and burn and freeze you simultaneously!"
"Not unless I beat you first!" I snarled as I readied the shield. "There are people who deserve justice for what you've done to them!"
Twinrova laughed. "People? You even regard the dragon and that traitor as people! That beast was just a pet to a boy who didn't know it's true potential, and Nabrooru was just a waste of time and space!" She then did something that made me worried: she raised both staffs.
It was either do or die: I held my shield up and prayed to the goddesses to give me help.
"Volvagia wasn't a pet to Link!" I yelled. "He never was! And Nabrooru cared more about your tribe and was a lot more daring than either you two combined could ever wish to be!"
"And why would you care?!" Twinrova snarled. "That brat was lazy, selfish, and you were forced to do his dirty work for him! Ha! What a joke!" She sent both spells at me.
I let out a swear and quickly held my shield up as I prepared for the worst.
What I did not expect was to have water crash into the shield and fall onto the ground at my feet.
"WHAT?!" Twinrova shrieked in disbelief as I slowly lowered my shield and found myself in a puddle of water.
"Pft-hahahahahaha!" Ivan let out a mighty high pitched laugh that almost rivaled the witches laughing. "Hahahahahaha!" I was concerned and was about to ask what he found so funny, until he struggled to say it through his laughing fit.
"Oh Goddesses! Oh Goddesses thank you! Thank you, thank you! Finally something that makes sense!"
"You dare laugh at the great Twinrova, little fairy?!" Twinrova snarled at my companion, who took deep breaths until he finally calmed down.
"Yeah, because you are an idiot!" He replied. "You actually thought mixing fire and ice was a good idea, and I'll admit that I was surprised that you didn't turn into a water witch, but it just shows how stupid you guys are, not to have expected that."
"Take that back!"
"Ok, but now here comes the best part- both of you know by know that we have a shield that reflects your magic back at you. I bet that whoever is dumb enough to try it again will lose Ganondorf's favor while the other one can claim superiority. Who knows- maybe the smart one is secretly his favorite."
I waited to see what would happen, since I had a feeling that Ivan had a plan up his sleeve.
"That's right!" Twinrova suddenly crackled. "After all, one of us has to get the hero!" Then she began raising the fire staff.
"What are you doing, you idiot?!" She suddenly snapped at herself. "Forcing you to attack her, so that I can be the best!" She added.
"Cut that out!" But it was too late and the shield absorbed the fire magic.
"You dolt! If that's how you want it, then fine!" The ice staff was raised and I casually dodged the attack. Meanwhile, Twinrova managed to argue with herself and it was pretty funny.
"I was the one who encouraged Ganondorf to set his sights on Hyrule!"
"No, I was the one who kept pushing him in his training!"
"No, you did that to Nabrooru and the other girls! You're the reason why we had a rebel on our hands!"
"I suggested tricking the king!"
"I froze the bird that would have gotten that brat to the prince!"
"You took all my perfumes and cosmetic potions!"
"How does that relate to any of this! You took my share of men to seduce during that war, two hundred years ago!"
"Because I was prettier than you, that's why!"
"Well I had the brains to start those battles almost seventeen years ago!"
"I was the one to suggest taking away that circular mirror from the old sages!"
"I kicked off the incident involving the Piccori to try to bring about the reincarnation of-"
By that time, my shield was charged and I aimed it at Twinrova and finally shut her up. Having had enough of this witch, I drew my sword and ran to the platform where she sat and was paralyzed by her own magic.
"I will fight for Link!" I yelled as I raised my sword and repeatedly slashed at the witch. "Because I never blamed him for any of this! If I could turn back time to prevent this, I would, but I would never hate Link! If I ever see him again, I'll let him know, because I'm tired of what all this hatred has done to this land!"
I then plunged it deep into their body and they let out a horrific scream.
Slowly their body rose into the air in an ungraceful heap and it became separated into red and blue magical smoke things that twirled back to the main platform. I moved to the main platform, just as they reformed back into Koume and Kotake.
"You want to have another round, grannies?" I demanded as I swung my blade out. "Because I still have it in me!"
"Shoot!" Koume shook her fists in the air. "This kid thinks she's fresh like that little punk we dealt with earlier! But this time will get serious, right Kotake?"
Then, to everyone's surprise, a light appeared above them as well as a ring over each head.
"Hey, Koume, what's that above your head?" Kotake asked as she glanced at the ring above her twin at the moment the two began to raise up into the air.
"I don't know, but you have one above your head too, Kotake!" Koume was just as confused.
There was a pause, before they realized what was happening.
"But I'm only 400 years old!" Koume shrieked as she flailed her arms out.
"And I'm only 380 years old!" Kotake did the same reaction as her sister.
"We're twins!" Don't lie about your age!" Koume snapped.
"You must have gone senile!"
"Who are you calling senile?! Is that how you treat your older sister?"
"We're twins! How can you be older?!"
Ivan and I could only watch as the two continuously squabbled in a symphony of unholy crackling noises. Finally, someone up above must of had enough, because the two were pulled towards the light and they ceased their fighting.
Only for them to let out one curse together before they vanished into the light.
"We'll come back to haunt you!"
Ivan and I just kept staring until the light finally vanished.
"W...what just happened?" I asked.
"I... have no clue." He replied. "Normally I'd ask why they went up instead of going... elsewhere... but honestly I just don't care anymore."
-somewhere in Hyrule's equivalent of Heaven (or whatever the reader believes in)-
"Uh... Kotake?"
"Yes, Koume?"
"Aren't these people we've brainwashed or killed throughout the years?"
The two hags were surrounded by many upon many individuals whom they wronged throughout their 400 (or 380) year lifespan as far as their eyes could see.
"You continuously insulted my daughter for not looking enough like a Gerudo, you racist hags." An elderly Gerudo with her daughter by her side growled.
"Your son almost ruined my family's life!" The daughter snarled. "My poor daughter and my Talon suffered, as did our animals!" She cracked her fists.
"You burnt us to death!" One cried out.
"You froze our limbs off for fun!"
"You brainwashed me and the others!" Nabrooru only had a few minutes in heaven before she and Rauru had to go back to the temple of the sages, but she was more than happy to have her revenge.
"You prevented me from aiding the hero." Rauru glared.
"You two brainwashed me into a mindless beast!" A deep voice boomed out as a large shadow fell over the witches.
The two turned to see Volvagia flying overhead. He lowered himself to the ground, helped an elegant looking lady off his back and gently set her onto the ground in front of the witches.
"Thank you, Volvagia." The former queen of Hyrule thanked the dragon and gave him a curtsey.
"The pleasure is mine, Your Majesty." He bowed in return.
"As for you two." The queen snarled at the witches as she pulled a sword from her scabbard with her left hand. "Well, I think there's a chance that you already know why I'm here. Morals be damned- I'm going to make you both suffer for what you did."
And so the former victims and vengeance seekers swarmed in and attacked the witches, much to their horrified protests.
It was a glorious and satisfying revenge for all of the dead. Not to mention hilarious.
"Ah, nothing says black comedy like seeing a group of people beating up old ladies." Din chuckled as she and her sisters sat on a couch that was levitating above the scene.
"Of course, we'll have to send them to where they belong, once those guys have their fun." Nayru took a handful of popcorn from a bucket and stuffed some of it in her mouth.
"See, we don't always have to be cosmic evils!" Farore grinned as she lowered her 3D glasses down a little. "We know how to provide justice."
-Spirit Temple-
"Ok, time to meet the next sage." I began as I headed to the familiar blue ring.
"I wonder what would have happened if Ganondorf hadn't been raised by those two." Ivan said thoughtfully. "Would it have made a difference?"
"Who knows. For one thing, I don't think we would have ever got to meet each other."
-Chamber of the Sages-
I was not surprised to find out who the last sage was. Something deep down inside me had guessed from the start who it would be.
"Nabrooru." I greeted with a nod to the Gerudo woman on the orange medallion. She didn't seem confused or angry, but she appeared to be satisfied and was even giving me a smile.
"Hey kid." She greeted me. "I got to thank you for freeing me."
"But I didn't." I pointed out. "The witches-"
"I'm stubborn and I told myself I'd rather die than lose my mind ever again." She cut in. "That's all you really need to know."
"Anyway," She placed her hands on her hips. "Look at you!" She laughed. "The little kid became a competent swordswoman! And look at me! A Gerudo who was forced to serve Ganondorf turned out to be the Sage of Spirit! And now I get to fight him as one of the six sages!" She laughed again. "I'm going to pay him and his goons back for what they did to me!"
"Anyway kid- no- Zelda, the Hero of Time!" She corrected herself. "I can't keep the promise I made to you, but I promise to lend you my aid in any way I can. I owe you that!"
"It's too bad I didn't get to know you for just a little longer." I confessed as everything around me turned white.
"You know, if I knew you'd become quite a beautiful woman, then maybe I should have kept my promise I made back then!"
Those parting words confused me, but before I could try to ask her what she meant, another voice called out to me.
"You have gathered us all at last." Rauru spoke out with pride. "Finally, all of us, the six Sages, have been awakened! The time for the final showdown with the King of Evil has come!
Before that though, you should meet the one who is waiting for you. Your final ally is to appear to you at the Temple of Time- it is time for the light to pierce through the darkness."
-Outside the spirit temple-
After I was transported back outside the temple, I recalled what Rauru told us. Who was waiting at the Temple, and what did he mean by the light to pierce through the darkness?
"Oh crud, I almost forgot!" I panicked and ran back towards the Spirit temple.
Resting against the shadowed entrance was Shadow, who looked a little better, if not tired out. His eyes returned to normal and there were only a few dark spots on his exposed skin and face, but he was still visibly shaking. If he had any intention of leaving, he was in luck since the sun was already setting.
"Shadow!" I quickly kneeled beside him. "Are you alright?"
"Did you get the hags?" He wheezed.
"Yes."
"Thank Nayru." He sighed in relief. "Now I can speed up the healing process." He lifted his left hand up and examined it.
"Hang on." I interrupted. "Shadow, I need to ask you something. That spell you used to get yourself out of the temple was very identical to the one that transported Ivan and I from the top of the Fire Temple to the very bottom."
"Ok, you got me." He held his hand up in surrender. "Yes, I was there to help you out."
"So that was you!" Ivan gapped. "I freaking knew it!"
"And it was you who tried to pose as me in the Water Temple, correct?" I pressed.
"Yeah, but I was only doing it to make sure you couldn't completely give into your anger when it mattered, like at the ice cavern." Shadow explained with a nervous laugh. "The irony is that I'm in this jam because I was stupid enough to be a hypocrite!"
"Why then?" I asked as my eyes narrowed. "Shadow, if you aren't going to tell me these things, then why are you really helping me?"
"I told you that y'all can't trust me."
I groaned. "You know what, fine. I need to head back to the Temple of Time. I'm sure you can take care of yourself." I reached for the ocarina of time, when suddenly there was a flash of green.
Seconds later, I found myself at the entrance to the valley- more specifically, right outside the tent, where Epona was.
"What was that for?!" I snapped at Shadow, whose hand was shaking as he held the crystal in his hand. Luckily for him, he was hidden from the last of the light of day, but I cared less about it. "I need to get to the temple and end finish this quest!"
"You can't!" He seemed rather afraid of the idea of me going. "They already set a trap for you in the old castle town!"
"And?" Ivan prompted. "Why should we avoid the town when we need to go there. In fact, why in Din's name should we have any reason to believe you, with all your cryptic talk?"
"Because Ganondorf wants the fraction of the Triforce inside her!" Shadow snapped at Ivan.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Ganondorf has the Triforce already."
"No, he-" Shadow looked around. "We aren't safe here. We got to get out of the valley."
I had to take his word. I quickly put my shield away and forced Shadow onto Epona, and quickly got on her.
"Heyah!" I kicked Epona and she galloped across the newly fixed bridge, over the narrow beam that went over a pond, and out of the valley.
"Ok, you have ten minutes to explain what you told me about the Triforce before I get to the Temple of Time!" I warned Shadow as he held onto me.
"Did you not hear me?!" Shadow asked in frustration. "I said-"
"Then explain it! No more secrets!"
"Ok fine, Princess!" He gave in. "According to legend, the Triforce can grant a wish and it doesn't care how good or evil the wisher is. However there is a condition- if he or she carries a balance of courage, wisdom, and power in their heart, the Triforce will remain intact upon touching it. If you don't have a balance, the Triforce will split into three and go to those who best embody those elements. Ganondorf valued power, so he only got the Triforce of Power. He needs the other two in order to get the complete Triforce. You have a fraction he wants."
"And how do you know that?" Ivan demanded.
"Because there should be a Triforce shaped mark on the back of her hand! You know about it, right?!"
I almost stopped Epona in shock when I heard this.
"Zelda carries inside her the Triforce of Courage." Shadow continued on. "She chooses to face danger, no matter how horrible it might be and in spite of any fears she has, so she was the perfect match! And considering what she had to go through before getting it, I think that's something to be proud of!"
Despite how desperate the situation was, a part of me felt honored to learn this. "And the other one?" I asked. "Who carries the Triforce of Wisdom?"
Before Shadow could answer, Ivan screamed "POES!"
I turned my head and sure enough, a huge number of ghosts were coming right at us!
"I TOLD YOU!" Shadow yelled.
"Come on Epona!" I kicked the rust colored mare to make her go faster. We rushed past the ranch and we were getting closer to the old castle town.
I gritted my teeth and glanced back. The poes were gaining on us!
"FOR LORD GANONDORF!" One of them yelled. "FOR THE DEPARTED POE SISTERS!"
"That just had to come back to haunt us, didn't it?!" Ivan complained as he flew beside me.
We finally reached the broken drawbridge, but Epona came to an unexpected quick stop and reared back with a 'neigh.' Before I could do anything, both Shadow and I fell off the saddle and collapsed on the ground. Just as I looked up, my beloved companion raced away from us.
"EPONA, NO!" I pleaded as I forced myself up.
"She knows that this place is cursed!" Shadow wheezed. "You can't blame her!" He told me as I hurried to get him on his feet and put his arm over my shoulders. In the haste, he lost his cloak, but it didn't matter since the sky was turning a stormy dark color that reminded me of when I first met Ganondorf. With an army of poes coming at us, I had no choice but to run over a broken drawbridge with an injured ally in my grasp as fast as I could.
"Oh Goddesses." Shadow moaned.
"What?!" I asked as I hurried down the street.
"The trap wasn't supposed to be for you- it was for me."
I almost asked what he meant, but as I came into the square, I came to a stop.
On each side of the fountain, blocking my way to the temple, were several moblins, lizafos, and stalfos- all with weapons in hand and ready to take us out.
I cursed and glanced back to see that the poes were blocking the way we came and were slowly gaining on us. There was no way I could fend them off on my own and Shadow was in no condition to fight.
We were trapped.
"The holder of the Triforce of Wisdom," Shadow wheezed as the monsters slowly came towards us, while I drew the Master Sword out "and the one you are supposed to meet at the temple is the seventh sage and leader of the other six."
"So?!" I hissed as I tried to think of how to get out of this.
"It's me, Princess."
I heard an odd snapping sound and glanced over to see Shadow holding the mirror in his left hand.
"I really didn't want to resort to this." He sighed as the circle of monsters was drawing closer around us. "It was fun having this personality and these abilities, but now it's time for me to quit hiding and face the light."
Outtakes
1.
-If he found out (dedicated to mysteriousguy898)-
"What the-?" I glanced around, but there was nothing that could have hit me.
Unless...
I took out the lens of truth and saw a large disembodied hand about half my size bouncing up and down on the floor, but I could sense that it was looking at me.
"What is it?" Ivan asked.
Before I could do anything, he flew over to take a look.
Seconds later, he let out a very high pitched scream and backed into a wall.
"WHAT THE ****?! WHY?! WHY?! HOW MANY ARE THERE?! WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH OUR WORLD?! GODDESSES, WILL I EVER BE FREE FROM THOSE ****ING ABOMINATIONS?!"
For the rest of the dungeon, my companion remained in a constant state of trauma and suspicion at every sound and movement. I regretted letting him see through the lens from that moment on.
2.
-Wrong mirror room-
"Hey wait a minute." I realized I found myself outside again in an area that seemed different from the rest of the temple. "This looks more like a battle arena! And what's with the rock in the center?"
"More importantly, what's with the mirror up there?" Ivan mentioned the object in question that was up on some sort of platform.
Before we could find out, a swarm of cuccoos suddenly flew into the area and began to dive bomb towards me.
"CUCK-A KOO-KA-KOO!" ("I TOLD YOU I'D GET MY REVENGE BACK IN CHAPTER 4!") One of them at the head cried out. "COCK-A CAH!" ("NOW PREPARE TO DIE, YOU SCUMMY WORM!")
Ivan and I screamed and we hightailed it back into the temple. Unfortunately, I never got to find out what the mirror was, because a section flock of angry birds knocked into the round object in their blind fury and it fell over with a mighty crash.
"COCK-AH-COCK-A-CAH!" ("LONG LIVE THE CUCCO DYNASTY!")
-sometime in another timeline many years later (+20 Rupees)-
As they pondered on where to find the next mirror shard, Zelda and Zant shuddered at the exact same time.
"You felt that, right?" Zelda asked.
"The feeling that something happening now could have been changed for the worst, due to some stupid cosmic happenstance?" The Twili asked. "Unfortunately, I did."
I couldn't change Twinrova's death scene- it's too funny to get rid of, in favor of something more realistic- but I wanted to give a good reason as to WHY they'd go up above, instead of below.
And now for some odd reason I'm imagining Volvagia sounding like Discord from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Honestly, I got to the point where, instead of going right to the Temple of Time with the prelude of light, I'd just ride Epona over there to feel more epic, in preparation for what was to come. That's what influenced the big change at the end of this chapter.
Late next month, we begin the first of the last three chapters of the story, starting with the epic return of... well, I think you know.