Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's and the plot.

A/N: I really wanted to get this chapter out a week and a half ago, but I went overseas last week and I used the week prior to get ready for it.

This chapter was supposed to be one chapter, but I had to break it up into two. The next chapter, though, will finish up the arc and be the summary, so don't worry about it being short.

Two notes I'd like to mention, though, on previous chapters. First, I'm dropping Shield Alpha and Shield Gamma from Noel's techniques. In my mind he'll never use them, and he'll rarely use the other two. Secondly, earlier I mentioned the Master Sword having three holes in the hilt. In the process of limiting Noel's power, I'm reducing those holes to two. These will come into play a little ways down the road. I may change those in the actual story, but it's much easier to make note of them and move on. Besides, they're not major, story-breaking changes.

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy!

Chapter 17

"Noel!" Alice cried. She and the others backed away, partly in fear, as Ganondorf drifted closer to them with Noel still in his grasp. An evil, sardonic grin plastered his face as he landed not too far from the ledge. "Ganondorf, let him go!"

"As you wish," he said simply. With a casual motion, he tossed the unconscious boy over his shoulder and into the pit.

"No!" she cried out in horror. Everybody else stood there, stunned, but her scream mirrored their faces. Ignoring her fatigue, she lunged at the evil maniac. She wasn't so desperate to attack him, but to just get past him and get to Noel. However, her efforts were in vain as Ganondorf appeared beside her and elbowed her in the face, sending her skipping across the dirt. "Get…out…of…my…way…dirtbag!" she said with an extreme amount of fury and rage, pulling herself to one knee.

"You? Threatening me?" Ganondorf laughed. "What can you do, girl? You can barely stand!" All of a sudden, though, four large energy blasts slammed into his side. He was sent slightly off balance as the others pressed their attacks. David was the first to get there, throwing a punch that any normal person wouldn't have been able to track, but Ganondorf regained his composure and agilely slid underneath and plowed a fist into his stomach. Using him as a shield, Ganondorf pulled David into the path of Brad's kick, leaving the fighter open to a counterattack. Ganondorf didn't waste the opportunity as he launched a Warlock Punch directly into Brad's chest before discarding David's body into Brett. Tom was lucky enough to pull away before he too was attacked and regrouped next to his older sister.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'll live," she said, weakly trying to stand. "I'm afraid Noel was right, though," she added bitterly. "I'm not going to be much good in this fight. He's much more powerful than I could've imagined."

"Can you throw an energy attack yet?" he asked, ignoring her pessimism.

Confusion lit her face as she replied, "I've got enough for one, maybe two shots. Don't know how much good it'll do, though…"

"We've got to at least try," he said. "For Noel." At these words she nodded. "On three…" The pair hadn't had much time to work on anything spectacular, but being siblings they knew how to work together. With a simple glance, the one knew what the other was thinking and they both took a fighting stance. At this point Ganondorf had slowly been advancing, the look on his face showed he was merely playing with his opponents. "Three!" Simultaneously, the two threw out both their hands and unleashed as much power as they could. The beams twisted around each other before forming into one large blast, aimed directly at the Gerudo thief.

"Fools!" he shouted, backhanding it away as if it was just an annoyance. The ricocheted blast careened into a nearby patch of trees, causing a massive explosion and turning them to dust.

Each second felt like an eternity as the two teenagers stood there, stunned that their attack was utterly useless. Tom was the first one to snap back into reality, narrowly jumping back to escape a fatal flying roundhouse kick to his face and blocking the elbow that followed. He desperately stood his ground, trying with all his might to protect his unmoving sister. Between the damage she sustained and the forced energy attack, her energy had been completely drained. Finally, though, one of Ganondorf's attacks broke through his defenses, sending him hurtling into his sister and sending them both into a nearby tree from the forest. "I can't believe this…" Tom groaned to himself, untangling himself from his now unconscious sister. "It's been less than two minutes into this fight and he totally annihilated us!" He looked over and saw the other three slowly recovering and pulling themselves to a fighting position. A wry grin crossed his lips. 'I guess we won't make it after all,' he thought.

'Don't worry, Tom. Help is on the way,' a voice, specifically Saria's, echoed in his head. He looked around in confusion, but strangely the Sages had disappeared.

"This fight has become boring!" Ganondorf bellowed, pulling Tom from his thoughts. "I'll finish you all with one attack and take my rightful place as ruler over all!" The four boys took a deep breath as Ganondorf began to gather a large ball of black energy above his head. The others were frozen in place, but David attempted a charge, only to be knocked back by Ganondorf's powerful black aura. They all stood there, and time seemed to slow down. Suddenly, though, a voice echoed through crackling noise of energy.

"Light Beam!" A ray of light shot through the air, knocking the black ball into the dark night, where it exploded safely. A second ray followed it up immediately, however, and plowed into Ganondorf's back, throwing him face first into the dirt.

"What?" he shouted in pure anger, infuriated that anybody would dare harm him. The sight that greeted him as he turned around only caused him to be further enraged, but it brought hope to everybody else. Not more than a few feet away from the edge of the pit, Master Sword in hand with the tip resting on the ground, and panting heavily, was Noel. He had cuts and bruises all over his body, but the wound that stood out the most was the large gash on the side of his head. Though the blood mostly had caked over by now, it was still trickling down his face. His face was weary, but full of fight and determination. "You! You should be dead!"

"You know, it's a funny thing," Noel replied with a slight smirk. "Next time you throw me into a pit of lava…you might want to make sure I actually land there! Turns out a conveniently placed ledge broke my fall." The two fighters stood there for what seemed like ages before Ganondorf pulled himself to his feet and spoke up.

"Heh, heh, heh," he laughed. His laughter broke out into all out howling. "It doesn't matter in the slightest! After I'm through with you, you'll wish you died by evaporation! Now die!" Dark energy formed into the Evil Thief's hand, but Noel managed to dodge before it could collide with him. When he landed, however, it legs quivered and he couldn't avoid a second attack.

'Okay, it's time to stop bluffing,' Noel thought, wincing as he tried to pull himself up. Not more than a few yards away he could see Ganondorf powering up for another attack. 'I'm as messed up as everybody else, and if I don't do something quick then we're all toast!' His thoughts were interrupted, though, as a large black ball headed directly for him. He found he couldn't muster the energy needed to dodge, so he braced himself for the worst. The worst never came, though, as three figures stepped in front of the blast and combined their energy to counter it.

"Kiiiahh!" Brett, David, and Brad shouted together, merging their energies together into one large beam. The two attacks lingered for a moment before resulting in a chain reaction that caused an explosion, knocking both parties further away from each other.

"Is…is…everybody okay?" Noel asked weakly, somehow finding the energy to pull himself to his hands and knees. He groped around a little bit for the Master Sword, which he had dropped in the explosion, before finding it and using it as a support.

"I've seen better days," David replied. His clothes were torn in several places, and blood was running from several wounds.

"I'll live," Brad agreed. He too was pretty banged up, with one arm defensively protecting the spot Ganondorf had used his Warlock Punch on. Though he appeared overall in better shape than David, Noel could tell he had sustained some internal injuries.

"Heh, can't let you have all the fun," Brett laughed humorously through his own pain. Out of the three he was the one with the least amount of injuries, mainly because he was taken out of the fight indirectly by David's body. "So, do we have any ideas how to get out of this mess?"

"Do you guys still have your canisters?" Noel asked. Unfortunately, all three shook their heads.

"Sorry, Noel," Brett replied. "We used them after we got done with the Goon Squad. Alice might still have hers on her, but she's a little out of it right now."

"That's just great," Noel said despondently. "Mine must've fell down into the lava, because I didn't have it when I woke up. We need to regroup. Brett, do you think you can buy us a couple of seconds to get to Alice's canister? Even though it won't heal us completely if we share it, it might give us enough energy to finish this fight."

"Yeah…yeah, I think so," he said slowly, although there was no confidence in his voice at all. The memory of Ganondorf taking them all down was still fresh in his mind. The smoke of the explosion had just finished clearing, revealing a very cocky Gerudo. His arms were crossed and an evil, arrogant grin was plastered to his face.

"Did you four have a good rest?" he inquired with a proud laugh. "Good, 'cause break time's over!"

"Land Mine Burst!" A voice cried out, and a couple of explosions interrupted Ganondorf's charge, knocking him to the ground.

"Brett, now!" Noel commanded.

"Giga Smash!" Without a moment's hesitation, Brett released the strongest blast he could while the others raced to Tom and Alice's side.

"Thanks for the cover fire," Noel said to Tom. "How's your sister?"

"She's still pretty out of it," he replied. "I overheard a little bit of your plan, but her canister must've been punctured when we landed. We lost most of it, and because she was worse when we landed I gave the rest to her."

"So we're pretty much dead in the water," Noel stated wryly.

"Sorry, Noel, and I used the last of my energy on that surprise attack. I managed to plant it when he knocked us back."

"Don't worry, we'll figure out something," Noel said, trying to sound confident. In truth, though, he didn't know what to do.

"Incoming!" David cried out. Noel snapped back to reality as a bloody and beaten Brett flew by them, crashing into a tree.

"Do the…words…'we're screwed' mean anything to anybody?" Brett mumbled, as the others helped him up.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much hoping for a miracle right about now," Noel freely admitted.

"There will be no miracles!" Ganondorf boomed. "You all will die here and now, and I'll take my rightful place as ruler over all!"

"Dream on, creep! Spirit Blast!" a voice cried out. An orangish-colored beam of energy shot out from the shadows of one of the nearby trees and crashed into the Gerudo thief, causing an explosion and knocking him back a few feet, though he didn't fall. When the smoke cleared, a very defiant Nabooru stood between him and the group with arms outstretched in a protective manner.

"You dare defy your king, you wretch?" Ganondorf shouted, angered at yet another distraction.

"You were the Gerudo king by birth," the Gerudo woman countered, "but I will never bow to an evil man like yourself! And we won't let you destroy our beautiful land!" As she said this, the other five Sages appeared. Darunia, Impa, and Rauru stood by her side while Ruto and Saria tended to the others.

"It's about time," Noel said to Saria slightly harsh. "Where have you guys been?"

"Sorry," she countered defensively. "We used up most of our power earlier; we needed a couple minutes to recharge."

"We'll do what we can to heal you," Ruto added. "The Princess and Matt are safe at Impa's house for now, but it's up to you to win this fight."

"Heal Brad and Brett first; they need it most," Noel replied, calmer now than before. The two boys were about to protest, but he had already turned back to the battlefield. The Sages were holding their own fairly well against Ganondorf, though their attacks were doing miniscule, if any, damage at all. They managed to nimbly jump around, all the while avoiding attacks and delivering their own.

"Omega Flare!" Darunia commanded, and a massive fireball connected with Ganondorf's exposed back, pitching him forward into Rauru's prepared attack.

"Searing Light!" he shouted, releasing a beam of light into Ganondorf's chest. The Evil King flew head over heels, but quickly rebound off the ground with his hands and avoided another Spirit Blast from Nabooru. The moment he touched the ground he sent a sidekick towards Impa, but she agilely slid underneath it and brought her dagger towards his heart, only to be blocked by his metal gauntlet. She kicked back to put some space between her and her opponent as a punch just barely was able to nick her face. She ignored the scratch, though, as she sent two Dark Balls flying towards him.

"They won't be able to keep this up much longer," Noel muttered, partly to himself and also to the group. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Brad and Brett were healed, followed by Alice and Tom.

"This shouldn't take too much longer," Ruto said to him as she stepped up to David. "Gentle Waters." She pulled out a small vial filled with crystal clear water that had been tied around her wrist and pulled the cork from it. As she concentrated on it, the water within began to flow out and gather into a small ball in the air. The more she concentrated, the more it gathered water vapor from it's surroundings and began to envelope David. As the cool liquid rested on his wounds, it began to shimmer with mystical energy and close up his injuries.

At the same moment Ruto had begun healing David, Saria had started on Noel. "Just give me a minute," she said, rummaging around a little in the small bag on her belt until she pulled out several small leaves. "Healing Herbs." Each leaf glowed with a strange light, but the effect was soothing as she applied them to the various spots that needed attention.

The process was almost complete when he suddenly heard Brett shout, "Watch out!" Without thinking, Noel wrapped an arm around Saria's waist and dove a few feet to the side. When he looked up again, he saw David had done the same with Ruto, and Brett and Brad had gone the opposite direction. Taking a quick glance to the battlefield, he noticed the four Sages that had been fighting were visibly winded and Ganondorf had noticed what the other two were doing, and he was clearly not pleased that he had missed with another energy blast.

"We'll buy you more time," Brad shouted. "Just hurry!" Before anybody could say or do anything, he stepped forward so he could get Ganondorf's attention. "Try this on for size! Flash Bomb!" He held his palm upwards and a white orb appeared. It didn't remain there for long, though, as he launched it at Ganondorf with as much strength as he could muster. The evil Gerudo smirked as he took up the challenge, though, and was about to swat it away like he had so many others when something else occurred. The moment he touched it, it exploded into a flash of blinding light. Even the others had to turn away, but they managed to see each other enough to regroup.

"Curse you, you little brats!" Ganondorf threatened, clutching his eyes. "You'll pay for giving me this much trouble!" After a few seconds the blinding light faded, and he looked up to see Noel in a relaxed standing position. His arms were at his side, and he was a few steps in between the group and Ganondorf.

"Let's finish this," he said simply, unsheathing the Master Sword, "old school style." A smirk lit his face, but his face was deadly serious.

"You won't fare any better than last time, twerp," Ganondorf laughed as a golden and black sword appeared in his hand.

"I guess we're about to find out!" Noel shouted in response as the two powerhouses charged at each other. The metals clanged as they passed each other. Simultaneously they spun on their heel and headed for each other again, this time locking their blades and staring heatedly at each other. The fighters grunted as each one tried to push the other, but neither would budge an inch. With one final push, both jumped back and charged forward again. The blades clanged as the two warriors traded sword blows at a blinding pace, each waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Noel's blade soared over Ganondorf's head, but he ducked underneath at the last second and stabbed with his own sword. Noel barely dodged the strike, moving to the side to get out of the way, but it was all Ganondorf needed to bring his elbow up into Noel's arm, releasing his grip on the sword. Noel didn't seemed phased in the least, though, as he released an energy blast directly into the Evil King's face, causing him to drop his own sword and clutch his face in pain with his now-free hand. The moment relief was brief, though, as the two fighters tried to strike at each other, but when promptly blocked retreated again. Again, the moment's rest was brief as both fighters took to the air and went immediately into hand-to-hand combat. Unlike previous skirmishes, though, there was no strategy involved. Each fighter used their fists and kicks to try and do as much damage with each hit as they could. In the end they were forced to back off again and they landed a few feet from each other.

Both fighters were badly beaten, but still standing strong. Noel had several scratches over his body where his clothes were torn, a couple of larger gashes on his face where blood was slowly running down his cheeks, and he was holding his left arm with his right hand.

Ganondorf was a little better off, though his condition wasn't too much better. His armor was broken in several places, but his muscular body didn't seem to have taken too much damage aside from that, though faint traces of blood could barely be seen through the dark cloth he had on. His face was covered in a few cuts and gashes, but the most noticeable wound was the blood pouring out his nose and mouth where Noel had got in a lucky punch. He was putting most of his weight on one leg, as his other one seemed dislocated from a particularly strong kick to the back of the knee.

Despite these wounds, however, both fighters had a battle-ready smirk plastered on their faces.

"Insane," Alice said, eyes wide as the two fighters went at it again. "It's absolutely insane! It's no wonder we got our tails wiped so quickly." Nobody responded to her, though, as everybody was too busy trying to keep up with the action.

"Do you think Noel can win this?" Brett asked David, who was carefully watching the exchange to the best of his ability.

"No," David said simply, catching everybody off guard with his certainty. "As hard as it is to believe, even with Noel being fully healed and Ganondorf already being weakened somewhat, Ganondorf is still stronger. Noel's barely keeping up as it is, but Ganondorf is still going on strong. Noel's energy is just about up, as well. We may have to step in again."

"Surely we can beat him, right?" Tom asked. "I mean, five on one, we should be able to finish the job easily."

"Even on his weakest day Ganondorf is stronger than all of us combined," David replied bluntly. "The only one who can stand toe-to-toe with him is Noel." He buried his fist into his open palm in frustration. "If only we knew how powerful Ganondorf really was, we could've been ready for this!" At that moment, Ganondorf released a punishing blow with both hands clasped together, sending the Guardian into the ground and creating a large crater. "That's our cue! Do or die, this ends now!" David shouted, taking off to the battle.

David managed to interrupt Ganondorf's charge into the crater with a properly placed kick. By the time he recovered, David, Brett, and Brad were standing between him and Noel. Tom and Alice descended into the hole to help the wounded Guardian, knowing that strong as they were, this battle was out of their league. For now, anyways.

"Why don't you people just stay down?" Ganondorf threatened angrily, but calmed down again. "No matter. I'll just crush you like the insects you are."

"Blah, blah, blah," Brad countered. "You're just spouting the typical villain talk. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?"

"Brad, I hope you have a plan," Brett whispered warily, watching as Ganondorf's face contorted to rage again.

"Delta attack as soon as he moves," came the reply. Nobody argued as they slowly shifted into fighting stances.

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play…" They almost didn't have a chance to move as Ganondorf's after image faded away and he appeared behind them. Brad and Brett slid off to the sides in opposite directions as David dove for the ground, rolled for a second, and came up into a fighting stance again. He managed to block a punch and a kick before Brad and Brett entered the fray, bringing the fight more into their favor.

'Good grief, how can he still move so fast after taking so much?' David thought, avoiding another punch while his own was blocked. Without warning, Ganondorf pulled David into Brett's by his wrist, releasing a dark energy blast into his back and sending both of them away. Before Brad could react, though, Ganondorf pinned both of his arms down to his side and lifted a few inches off the ground. Brad desperately struggled to get free, but Ganondorf's grip didn't falter. Even when he tried to knee him in the stomach, he just shrugged it off.

"You vermin have given me too much trouble, and you will be the first to die!" Ganondorf stated, repeatedly head-butting Brad in the forehead and between the eyes. "Weakling," Ganondorf muttered after about five strikes or so. There was a large gash in Brad's forehead that was spewing out blood, but it was his smirk that caught Ganondorf's attention. Using a lot of effort, Brad stared at him through one open eye.

"Look down…jerk." Confused by the statement, he glanced down…to see an energy ball in Brad's open palms and pressed against his stomach. There was no time to react as Brad poured as much energy as he could into the attack, breaking Ganondorf's grip and sending him a few feet back.

"Futile!" Ganondorf shouted. "That only delayed the inevitable!"

"Guys, now!" Brad shouted, making Ganondorf finally aware of the presences of Brett and David, who had taken positions on opposite ends of him in a triangle-type pattern.

"Giga Smash!" Brett shouted, forming a large energy ball above his head and throwing it with all his might.

"Warring Worlds!" David commanded, a red energy ball forming in one hand and a blue one in the other. He threw both at the same time, and when they collided they formed a large golden ball.

"Spiral Wave!" Brad shouted, firing a beam that twisted around like a spring until it met its mark. Ganondorf didn't have time to dodge as all three blasts converged and collided with him at the same time. When the smoke cleared, though, Ganondorf was still standing, although heavily injured. Part of his armor had been blown away and there were several large cuts on his olive green skin. His face was contorted in rage and pain as he lowered his crossed arms from their defensive position. The three boys, now standing together again, stood in shock. Even in his weakened state he withstood their best attacks.

"You…impudent…brats!" he bellowed. "I'll show you the meaning of true power!" He raised a hand and a powerful amount of shadow energy began to form in the center of it. Before he could throw it, however, two more blasts slammed into his back and threw him to the ground. Before he hit, though, the energy found its mark at the boys' feet, knocking them several feet back. While the boys were struggling to regain their energy again, he slowly brought himself to his feet and turned to find Alice and Tom, both winded from the amount of power they used. "This is getting old! Why do you continually believe that you can defeat me?"

"We don't," Alice replied, surprising the Evil King with her answer, "merely setting the stage." He was about to demand to stop playing games, but he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his back and stomach. Looking down, horror etched his face as a blade of steel protruded from his abdomen.

"Checkmate," Noel simply whispered into his ear, kicking him off the Master Sword.

"How…why…" Ganondorf sputtered, as blood flowed freely from his many wounds, but mainly the ones in his stomach and back.

"To put it simply, they were distractions and you fell for it," Noel responded to the unasked questions. "And now your reign of terror ends." Noel was about to fire a Light Beam at his defeated opponent, but Ganondorf surprised him as he rose to his feet and swelled his black aura, pushing all of them back before collapsing again.

"Heh, I've managed to underestimate you again, Chosen One," he managed to gasp with a smirk, pulling himself to one knee. "But don't think that this is over; I will be back!" As black energy enveloped him into a dark ball, Noel noticed a golden glow on the back of one of his hands and his face froze in horror. An evil laugh permeated the air as Ganondorf flew to his now-impenetrable castle.

"No!" Noel finally shouted. Everyone, except the Sages, was puzzled at his reaction.

"Noel, what's wrong?" David asked.

"I'll…I'll tell you later," he said softly. "Come on, we need to check on the kids."

A/N: I'd first like to thank everybody who's reviewed so far. I know this chapter took a while to get out, but it's out a lot sooner than if I didn't get any reviews. Sadly, though, my second half of the semester has started up again and my workload just tripled, if not more. I have two block classes that go until the end of the semester, and each of them has a ton of work involved. I want to say that I can the next chapter out quick, but I don't know if that'll be possible. However, it's really my own fault because I slacked off the first half of the semester. So with all that said, I want to make a promise that in no more than three weeks will the next chapter be out (unless something out of my power comes up, which I'll let you know). It'll take that long to get everything back under control, but I do this for you faithful readers. Until then, I bid thee adieu!