Link stared up at the feathered fiend as it eyed him up. He held his sword out at the bird as a warning. If the bird tried to grab him again, he was ready for it.

Suddenly, the bird lashed out with his beak open, just like last time.

"Not this time!" Link dodged out of the way as the bird's beak jammed into the floor. Scanning the room for anything to use, Link noticed that the cells were a good safe spot. No way the bird could fit in there. He raced to get in. As he dashed inside, the bird stuck his neck through the door. He screeched wildly as it tried to reach the boy, who squished himself against the back wall. He was just out of range of the bird's snapping beak. As it screeched, Link felt the bird's cold breath on his face.

"What can I do here?"

The bird began snapping closer and closer as Link took out his bow and fired an arrow at the bird.

Dink!

The arrow harmlessly bounced off of the bird's metal mask. Link's boots started to fill with sweat.

Instead of fighting back, the bird started to fly into the air.

"HAH! Am I too scary for you now that I have the Master Sword? Ha ha ha ha! Yeah! Fly away! I could do with less distractions!" boasted Link as the sweat was now up to his waist.

Wait, what? Sweating that much is not normal! What's going on?

Link looked down. He was not sweating at all. Water was gurgling from a golden grate in the floor and it was rising fast.

True to his word, Ganon was trying to drown the prisoners unaware that they had escaped. If Link didn't act fast, he would drown instead and the bird would be free to give chase to Tetra.

The boy's eyes whizzed around the room as the bird rose just above the water level. A boardwalk spiralled up around the room that eventually went out of the ceiling. Link glanced at the bird. It was scanning the path, looking for him.

Link dove underwater to get out of site and swam to the boardwalk. When he felt wood around his hands, he pushed his head above the surface. He had reached the boardwalk.

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!

Link hurriedly clambered up onto the ground and ran up to dry land as the bird caught sight of him. They both kept their eyes locked onto each other as Link started running up the wooden boards.

The bird let out a shriek as it reared itself to smash Link into the wall.

CRAAAAAAAAAASH!

The charge missed its mark, smashing part of the boardwalk that was now behind Link. Pieces of wood tumbled through the air and landed in the water with several splashes.

Link began to run faster. If he were to get hit, he would fall and be trapped. He continued running up the path towards a large, ornate jar.

SMASH!

The jar shattered into pieces and a green Bokoblin leaped out with a machete outstretched. Link winced and held his shield up.

Clang! "I have no time for your games!"

In a heartbeat, the Master Sword sent the Bokoblin flying into the bird, covering his eyes. Using this distraction, Link dashed up the spiral.

SCREEEEEEEEECH!

Another ear-piercing shriek came from below as the bird flapped all the way up to Link's level. It eyed the path in front of him, lined up and charged.

SMAAAASH!

This time, the bird nailed the timing. The path smashed under Link's feet and he began falling down.

"MMMMMPH!" The boy let out a strangled scream as he plunged lower and lower, reaching his hands up to the ledge and just about grabbing onto the jagged edge. Now Link was hanging by his fingertips over the rising water.

With a sadistic grin, the bird opened its golden beak and charged.

Now, Link's mind was thinking at about 1000WPS (Words per second).

"No. This isn't happening."

"All because of that stupid Bokoblin! If he hadn't got in the way, I could have seen this coming!"

"Please! Stop charging! I'll… I'll..."

"There's no way out of here! I'm doomed!"

"Well… at least Aryll is safe."

"Wait! I have an idea!"

Link dropped off the edge just as the bird's golden beak rammed into the wall. Acting fast, he took out his grappling hook and hurled it into the air. It shot past the bird as it withdrew its beak and it wrapped around a torch that was hanging on the wall.

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and ran up the wall to find his footing. When he got to the torch, he detached the grappling hook, slid down the wall and onto the path.

"Now that I think about it, Medli's been saving my life with this thing!" thought Link, but there was no time to lose, the bird was rearing up for yet another attack. Link dove out of the way of the bird once again and took advantage of his jammed beak by shifting gears and charging up to the exit on the roof. He was going to make it!

With a deafening shriek, the bird flew out of the hole in the room and landed at the exit. He tucked his wings in and just stared at him, blinking quickly. He was trying to trap Link in the flooding room.

Instead of expressing fear, a smug, knowing grin crossed Link's face.

"Oh, look! The coward is trying to trap me in the room! What could I possible do about that, HOW ABOUT THIS?!" shouted Link quickly as he yanked the Skull Hammer out and smacked the bird HARD in the face with it. With a scream, the bird pointed his beak into the sky, lost his balance and fell clean off the platform. He plummeted towards the rising waters and disappeared with a colossal splash. Black and red feathers rose to the surface like little blooming flowers.

Link put the hammer away, looked into the wreckage and violently slapped his hands together.

The bird was gone and that felt GOOD.

The horrible bird had put Link through absolute MISERY for his whole journey. He had kidnapped Link's sister, airlifted him right when he was about to save her and chucked him into the ocean to drown. This was satisfying for me to write!

And so, Link clambered out of the hole in the ceiling. Now he was on top of the Forsaken Fortress in a round arena. Link's eyes darted around. Was this where Ganon would turn up?

Short answer, no. Past a weird threshold was a winding path that lead up to… the shipwreck.

That shipwreck from ages ago.

The shipwreck with GANON living in it.

"Here I come, Ganon!" grunted Link as he drew his sword and marched forward.

The boy had almost got to the threshold when it revealed its purpose. A set of sharp spikes burst out of the holes. They were taller than Link, so there was no getting past them.

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!

Link stood erect and froze. No. No. It couldn't possibly be.

SCREEEEEEEEEECH!

Yes. Yes. It was all too correct.

The bird flew straight up into the air, his golden plumage swirling around like a Catherine wheel. Several black feathers shot off of his body as he spread its wings and piercingly screamed, dislodging a different shipwreck from a concrete branch. It crashed down the side of the fortress and into the water. Looking closely, his metal mask now had a crack in it from where Link had mashed him with the mallet.

It was on.

The final battle.

Immediately, the bird swooped at Link, scraping his claws against the floor. Sparks leaped into the air as he shot past, completely missing Link. Somehow, the boy needed to make it to the mask and break it with the Skull Hammer. It gave too much protection.

The bird turned through the air and landed on the ground, its wings spread out.

"Hey!" called Link. "Come and get me, you pile of feathers! Early bird catches the worm!"

The bird stomped over towards him as he wielded the skull hammer. With a gasp of air, he raised his shining, golden beak into the air and thrust it downwards, his neck flexing like a snake on the attack as he did so.

SMASH!

The bird's beak crashed into the floor. It strained and strained as it tried to withdraw it, but Link raised his hammer over his head and bought it down as hard as he could.

SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Shards of metal went flying. Now the bird's mask was covered in cracks, but it still wasn't off. Not falling for that again, the bird shot into the air and kept his distance, solidifying black feathers and throwing them like knives from a distance. At certain intervals, it would swoop down to drag its claws across the ground.

"I have an idea!"

Link positioned himself so he was standing between the bird and Ganon's pirate ship. He was hoping that the bird would swoop at him, miss him and then crash straight into the pirate ship, knocking it off and killing two birds with one stone, almost literally.

Link stayed dead still as the bird fired another set of knife feathers at him. As he guarded against them with his shield and promptly removed them, the bird came in for another skidding strike.

At the last moment, Link dodged out the way as the bird carried on and smashed into the pirate ship on the other side. The ship didn't fall off but the bird spreadeagled for a second, giving Link the time to sprint after it, leap off the edge and grab onto its golden feathers.

Immediately, he started to slide down its tail and off the edge but he dug his fingers in hard. The bird flew up again and, noticing him, thrashed wildly to dislodge the parasitic person hanging onto him for dear life.

Link began slowly climbing up the birds plumage to try and get to his back and smash its head in with his hammer. The bird took off from the fortress and flew over the dark sea. Link clung on as feathers came off left and right. The world was whirling, he was getting dizzy and wind was roaring in his ears, just like the bird.

With a scream of effort, Link grabbed the black feathers on the birds back and heaved himself on. The bird turned his head and began snapping with his sharp beak. The fortress was now becoming a speck in the distance.

Link's eyes widened as he saw a giant rock spire sticking up in the distance. "Watch where you're flying, you fool!" he shouted at the bird as it swerved around to avoid it and began flying back towards the Forsaken Fortress. As he turned, Link saw a familiar vessel cutting through the water.

It was Tetra's ship.

"Oh no!"

By this point the bird had caught his gaze because he was now eyeing up the ship. Looking back at Link to see if he was going to try and stop him, he swooped down after it.

"Oh, no you don't!" Link continued to climb across the back of the bird and finally, he reached its head. The bird swooped over the ship, reaching his talons down and hitting the mast. The whole ship rocked on the waves. Right on cue, Link raised the Skull Hammer and smashed the beast in the face with it.

With a glass-shattering cry, the bird's mask broke off. Behind it hid a set of red, beady eyes and a golden… comb?

I guess 'overgrown turkey' was right, then.

The bird flew erratically through the air towards the fortress as Link furiously slashed at his comb. Yellow blood was spilling from it wildly before the bird finally shook Link off at the platform.

Link jumped to his feet and circled his enemy as the bird bent down and twisted his beak into a twisted smile.

Suddenly, the two launched themselves at each other. Sword and beak collided as the two shouted in effort. The bird occasionally paused to fire a sharp feather but Link managed to block them with his shield. After a pause, Link aimed his sword a little higher up as the bird swooped in for another duel.

SLASH!

Link paused in horror as he stabbed the bird's comb through. All was silent for a while, only being broken by the wind.

The bird finally broke the silence by wrenching himself free of Link's sword and trying to retreat. Link shot arrows at it to try and finish it off. He couldn't let it get away or it would just target the pirate ship again.

Suddenly, a ray of light shone at the bird directly. Then another, then another and one more for good measure. All the shrieking had obviously caught the attention of the guards and they had unintentionally trapped the bird in a cage of pure light.

Light always triumphs over darkness, even when the light is controlled by darkness.

The bird cawed one last cracking shriek before it went limp and fell back towards the platform.

"Uh-oh!" gasped Link as he ran out of the way of the falling bird. It finally landed on the floor, disappearing in an explosion of golden feathers. When all of them settled like golden snow, all that remained of the bird was all of its golden plumage and a red eye lens.

At last, the barbarous bird was no more.

Link gathered up the gold feathers and stuffed them into his spoils bag. Just as he finished, there was a grating noise from the corner. When he looked to investigate, the spikes blocking his path were all gone.

Link was free to go ahead.

As if in a trance, Link had walked up the cold stone path and was standing outside Ganon's lair. As stated beforehand, it was half a shipwreck. Link could feel himself shaking from fear, so he took out the Master Sword for a boost in confidence.

"I have the Master Sword! The one sword that can defeat Ganon! I am ready for this!" he recited in his head.

The boy looked down at the ocean below. In the dock, he could see the little red spot that was the King of Red Lions.

"Don't worry, sir. I'm safe." he whispered.

He looked at the door that lead into Ganon's lair. Red paint in the shape of an eye shedding a single tear was slashed onto the front and a real skull held the ring that opened the door. The presumable trophy of a past warrior.

Finally swallowing his fear, Link grabbed the latch and began to open the door.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

No, reader, that wasn't Link knocking on the door to see if anyone was in, his hands were still shaking as he opened the door.

A blood red carpet sprawled before him on the dusty floor. Ship parts were cluttered all over the sidelines like discarded trophies. Tatty curtains hung over the windows, red dots decorating them.

A man stood facing the window, a golden face on the back of his robe staring at the boy insanely. He seemed very large. Not just tall, but very large. His chest seemed to be puffed out in pride and his bulky robe covered most of his hair, leaving only a small bit of ginger poking out of the top. His hands were hidden from sight up his sleeves but it was safe to assume that they alone were bigger than Link's.

"Maybe… Maybe that robe is making him look bigger than he is." thought Link hopefully.

"It has been a while, boy."

Link's insides turned to ice. He expected some gruff, gravely voice but what he got sounded deep but posh at the same time. It was like he was the king of a castle.

"It takes strength to overpower the Phantom Ganon AND the Helmaroc King. I'll give you that."

"Well, I suppose that pesky bird should have pecked on someone his own size." said Link before he slapped himself out of frustration.

"Link, you idiot!" fumed his brain. The man said nothing.

"W-well forget about that! Why don't you turn and face me, Ganon?"

Ganon cleared his throat.

"All right, two things: One, I am the master of the Forsaken Fortress. Two, I am not Ganon-" Ganon turned around to face him.

"I… am Ganondorf."

Link recoiled at the sight of Ganon...dorf. What stood out most was his skin. It was a dark shade of green. The shade of the skin of a cucumber. He had a fiery, orange hair and eyebrows. He had small, yellow eyes like that of a cheetah.

"I know EXACTLY who you are. Do you know what THIS is?" Link held the master sword up to a hole in the ceiling, letting moonlight bounce off it.

"Oh, you have no idea what you have done by drawing that sword." chuckled Ganondorf.

The ice that froze Link's insides turned to mush. He had heard that exact same line from Phantom Ganon.

"What? What? Tell me, what did I do?" panted Link, sweating at his brow. Ganondorf twisted his face into a crazed, sadistic smile.

"Oh. You see, that sword you have there… It is actually a key. Its pedestal is a lock." whined the man in sadistic satisfaction. Suddenly, his expression grew demented and he began twitching wildly.

"THE MOST WRETCHED KEY AND LOCK THAT HAS KEPT A SEAL ON ME AND MY MAGIC INTACT!"

This sudden roar threw Link off guard even further.

"I say… Did you notice? When you were in the castle, the second you drew that blade, all the monsters in there started… moving?"

Link nodded his head.

"When you stole the blade..." Ganondorf stressed the word 'stole', making sure Link knew exactly what he said. "When you STOLE the blade… Oh yes, when you stole the blade… you broke that seal."

Link winced and looked at his sword.

"What have I done?"

Link looked at his reflection in the blade. He turned it to see Ganondorf's face. It was crossed with sadistic mirth and smugness.

"YOU!" shouted the boy as he charged at the man. Ganondorf did absolutely nothing, even when he was hit.

CLANG!

The sword bounced off of Ganondorf's skin as if he were made of metal. Link's arm went numb in the same way as what hitting a golf ball incorrectly would do. Suddenly, Link found his energy draining. He knelt to the floor, planting his sword into the ground for support. He looked up at the sorcerer towering above him.

"Out of my way, boy."

Ganondorf lifted his arm and backhanded Link across the face so hard, he flew across the room and onto the floor at the other end. Ganondorf marched towards him, drawing a gigantic scimitar and pointing it straight at him.

Don't you see? The sword you hold is powerless! All the power has been drawn out of it! A blade that lacks the power to repel evil can never face me! You may as well hit me with a rolled up newspaper!" cackled the warlock. He picked the boy up by the back of his clothes with his free hand and prepared to throw him out of the giant, gaping hole at the back of the shipwreck.

"Go back to the twits who made this can-opener and tell them that!"

Clack!

The two heard someone landing behind them, causing Ganondorf to drop Link onto the floor.

Link stared blearily at the shape as his vision stopped blurring. Tough clothes, dark skin and a blonde, beehive hairdo.

Tetra was back.

"Tetra?" moaned Link in dizziness.

The pirate grinned at her friend and then pounced at Ganondorf. He landed clean on his shoulders and began tearing at his face and hair.

"Gerroff! Begone!" roared the sorcerer as he grabbed the closest thing on the table next to him. Next thing he knew, he was swatting at Tetra with a rolled up map as if she was a fly.

"Link!"

Tetra's voice made Link uneasily stand up. He wobbled around and shook his head to regain his senses.

"L-GLURK!"

Link recoiled as the evil wizard dropped his map, thrust his hand out and grabbed Tetra by the throat. He held her up like a trophy while she bit and scratched at the massive hand that was binding her. Nothing was having any effect.

"Link! H-urrrk! Hit him! Please!" croaked Tetra. She was already starting to sound like a frog.

Link stared helplessly at the two. He knew that his sword had no effect for some reason, but Tetra didn't. She stared expectantly. "I… can't! I tried that!"

With a low, rumbling laugh, Ganondorf raised his free hand up to Tetra's head, clearly to try and snap her neck. Luckily, something stopped him. The back of his hand started glowing and producing the sound of energy ringing.

"Huh? What's this?" he stuttered as the glowing became fiercer and fiercer.

"What's what?" choked Tetra, rapidly turning purple.

"My Triforce of Power… It's… resonating!" said Ganondorf, a smile of genuine glee crossing his face.

"The what?"

"You can't hide from me any longer! I know you! You are in disguise! Your real identity… is Princess Zelda."

Link's eyes shot open and his ears rose up. Granny had told him about Princess Zelda: A beautiful princess who ran an old kingdom. Tetra, of all people, could definitely not be Princess Zelda as from what he'd heard, Zelda was not a tomboy.

"Who?" wheezed Link.

"Stop trying to protect her!" ordered Ganondorf. His irises glowed blue. Suddenly, Link felt like he had been struck by lightning. He collapsed to the floor, unable to even scream.

"Now… back to you!" Ganondorf turned his attention back to Tetra. She had now turned unconscious from all the pressure on her windpipe. Link let out a broken sob of anguish.

"Oh, it seems I pressed a little to hard! Just a little!" said Ganondorf, his voice suggesting that this was completely intentional. His face then widened in surprise. He reached his other hand up and removed her necklace. A necklace with black beads running along the strings and a golden triangle on the end.

"Don't… touch that..." rasped Link as he reached his arm out and then let it drop out of exhaustion. He had no idea what he saw in that necklace. It was a very strange feeling.

"And why not? It seems you know something that I don't!" Just because, Ganondorf shocked Link with his eyes again. Link thrashed around on the floor like a hosepipe that had been turned on to the highest pressure and then left alone.

"Tell me. If this girl is NOT Princess Zelda... then why does she have a part of the Triforce around her neck? Go on? Tell me! Oh, that's right! YOU CAN'T!" cackled Ganondorf as Link continued crackling with electricity. He slumped his head on the ground in defeat.

Suddenly, he felt a rush of air, like he had just been launched from a catapult. He felt something scaly wrapped around his shoulders.

"HA HA HA- Where did he go?" mused Ganondorf, loosening his grip on Tetra to look at the spot where Link once was.

In an instant, Tetra was gone too. A black shadow had zapped through the air like a bolt of electricity and grabbed her out of his grasp. Her necklace was gone with her.

Ganondorf let his arms fall and, in rage, he stomped over to the window. Who was that and where had they gone?

As soon as he could move again, Link looked upwards. He was flying through the air in the talons of a Rito. This was the day he found out that the Rito could morph their feet into talons.

The face of the Rito carrying him was very familiar. When Link got used to the adrenaline of flying, he noticed it was Quill, his friend from Outset.

"Ssssshhhh. Don't worry. You're safe. Everything is going to be just fine. Oh, look! Pretty ocean tonight!" jabbered Quill hurriedly. He obviously didn't want Link to see what was happening back there.

Now, there's nothing more guaranteed to make a child look than to try and tell them not to. Link immediately looked back at Ganondorf in the window of the pirate ship. His teeth were gritted and his eyes were narrowed. He didn't even seem angry. He wasn't even expressing any negative emotion.

Instead, he seemed to be… grinning knowingly. He held his hand up in the air and took a deep breath.

"Acerba funera ascriberet!" he bellowed. A bolt of green magic shot out of his fingertips and zoomed past Quill. The Rito ahead of him was almost hit.

"The killing curse..." mused Quill.

"Valoo! Autem!"

On his mark, Valoo, the beautiful dragon from earlier rose up to face Ganondorf.

Even this didn't make the evil warlock falter. He just stared at the boy with thin, knowing eyes as Valoo took a deep breath. In a single second, the dragon had blasted burning blue breath onto the boat. It immediately went up in electric blue flames as Ganondorf still stood, watching them fade off into the distance.

The last Link saw of him was a burning beam of wood falling on top of him. Blue flames leaped from the wreckage as the day's work finally caught up to the boy.

"Ah, so you stir?" came a very warm voice ahead of Link. Who on earth was this?

The boy opened his eyes and looked around himself. The round ringed wall of the Tower of the Gods surrounded him. He could feel the familiar deck of the King of Red Lions below him.

"Link, everything is OK." came another familiar voice. "Tetra is right in front of you and she is breathing. We checked."

Link quickly jolted up. Tetra lay on the deck against the figurehead of the King, still passed out. He inspected her neck. It was swollen and red but he could hear her breathing. She was hurt but alive.

Link then paid attention to two figures on either edge of his boat. At first, his just-woken-up brain had thought they were statues but on closer inspection, they were Rito. One stood with his arms crossed and the other… Link didn't recognise.

"Who are you?" asked Link, looking at the new Rito.

"Ah, see, Quill! I told you someone wouldn't recognise me!" he chuckled, aiming his finger at Quill.

Link instantly recognised the voice.

"KOMALI?""

"Yep! It's me! I took on Dragon Roost and got my wings at long last! It seems they came in quite handy!" boasted the Prince. Link saw the King gazing upwards out of the corner of his eyes. He followed his gaze and saw Valoo, perching on the giant wall surrounding the tower like a pigeon on a telephone pole.

"Valoo! You arrived not a moment too soon! We are very grateful for your assistance!"

The great Valoo said something in Hylian before he shook his head.

"I am aware of that. This is why I directed you over here. It was important to get these two as far away from Ganon as possible."

Valoo said something else in Hylian, his deep voice rippling the water.

"I thank you for that. I hope I can become as useful as you some day."

The dragon nodded and began to flap up into the air. He flew back off to Dragon Roost.

"Link, we'll leave you with your friend now. We need to get back to the Aviary." said Quill hurriedly. He was clearly worried about something.

"I'll help you out with that!" announced Link. He pulled out the Wind Waker and pointed it in the direction Valoo went.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The wind blew forwards with a cheer.

"Oh… thank you!" said Quill as he took off and flew into the air. He and Komali shot off into the distance until they became as small as the distant stars.

Link was alone.

With the King of Red Lions.

With Tetra.

In the Tower of the Gods.