I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did the games would tie in together better and there would be a few different ones added in.
Part One: Oracle of Seasons
Chapter Twenty-One: Maple
"Where is it?" A young lady asked herself as she looked over another room that apparently didn't contain what she was seeking. "It has to be here somewhere. Where else would it be? My crystal ball can't even find the rod."
The crystal ball in question suddenly hummed in her hands. Focusing a little magic into it, the possessor saw a boy in green and a girl in white and purple walking thru the hallways. "So others have shown up here too? Well I'm not letting them get to my treasure first. The Rod of Seasons is mine."
"Din's going to have a hard time cleaning this place up when she gets back." Link commented as he waded thru the overturning shelves and broken vases found in one of the halls of the temple.
"Do you think the natives have already been here?" Romani asked.
"Not sure. But someone has been here before and for all we know they still are. We should be careful."
Neither one of them noticed there was a shadow behind a pillar in the room, mostly because neither were looking in that direction. But the source of that shadow was certainly looking at them.
Suddenly the floor trembled, implying something dropped onto the ground behind them. Both teens turned and saw something that looked like giant skull surrounded by fire and smoke, much like the ghoulish things Link had seen before in past temples.
Neither Link and Romani were frightened by the apparition, used to this by now. Link jumped forward sword ready and slashed down the face of the spectre. It quickly dissipated and revealed a paper doll.
"Huh?" Both asked, not expecting that.
A moment later, another creature showed up, coming from the giant doorway they entered the room from. This creature looked like a devilish fish swimming thru the air. Romani took out her hookshot and shot at its eyes, hitting it and making it dissipate and reveal a paper doll just like before.
"Someone's using magic to scare us away." Link concluded. He pulled out his lens of truth once a third creature appeared. His eyes told him it was some kind of bat monster, but his lens showed it was another piece of paper with an illusion attached. Luckily, his lens caught a glimpse of someone around the corner once it came out. "Follow me."
Moving around the third apparition, Link and Romani returned to the doorway, Link having his arrows out. He saw someone try to fly away and hide behind another corner, but he charged up an electric arrow and fired it at in front of this person. The arrow hit the wall and a large amount of electric burst out, hitting the mystery person but only stunning them.
Link and Romani approached them, seeing a girl their age dressed in a dark purple dress with a dark purple hat and a reddish-brown bag on her right side. Her hair was green and cut short and she had been riding a broom. "Owie that hurt." She said with clenched eyes as she rubbed her sore muscles.
"Is she a witch?" Romani asked.
She saw them and jumped to her feet, pointing her finger accusingly at the couple. "You, give me the Rod of Seasons. I, the great witch Maple, must have it."
"And why is that?" Romani asked defensively.
"That's none of your business. Give me the rod."
Link shook his head. "No."
Maple blinked in surprise. "Did you just tell me... no?"
"Did I stutter?"
"Big mistake boy. I could have destroyed you at any point, but I chose to simply scare you off and give you and your girlfriend a chance to live longer. Now, no more Miss Nice Witch." She declared, holding her broom like it was a weapon.
Link and Romani held out their swords and shields. "Two against one, the odds aren't in your favor." The Terminian ranchgirl told the young sorceress.
"Then how about I get some numbers of my own?" Maple asked before pulling out a red pellet and throwing it on the stone floor of the temple. A large red smoke cloud appeared but thinned quickly, and when it did there were four Maples instead of one. "Still like fighting two against one?" All four said.
Romani put away her sword and pulled out a mask. "Let me handle this Grasshopper." She put it on, and suddenly there were four of her, but three of them were deku, goron, and zora instead of human.
"What the heck?" The Maples asked.
Human-Romani grabbed her sword and sliced one Maple's broom. Deku-Romani used a spin-strike combined with a deku nut to take down another. Goron-Romani simply pushed down the third Maple, and Zora-Romani used her fins to hold the last Maple in place. "What was that about being able to destroy us at any moment? Looks to me like you've got no actual fighting skills." Human-Romani asked.
Suddenly the four Maples shrink and turn into nothing more than tuffs of hair wrapped in a ribbon.
"She used a decoy?" Link asked. "She must have used the smokescreen as a cover."
Human-Romani took off the Four Mask, making her doubles disappear and returning her to normal. "I must be right. She can trick and deceive but she can't actually fight. Why else would she run off like that?"
"Those guys are too much for me to handle head on. I need to prepare a proper trap if I'm to be rid of them." The teenage witch told herself as she flew down a hallway on the opposite side of the temple. She came to a stop in an empty part where the light was dimmed, making the rest of the hallway obscured in shadow.
"This should be good enough." She started drawing a pentagram on the floor. "If I lead them here, they'll be trapped and at my mercy. Then I can get the Rod of Seasons and Grandma Syrup will finally declare me a full-fledged witch, no longer an apprentice."
"You seek the Rod of Seasons?" A booming voice called out to her, making her stop her drawing.
"Huh? Who's there?"
"Did you enter this temple hoping to acquire the treasure instead it?" The voice asked again.
"That depends, can you tell me where it is?" She replied. She looked down the dark part of the hallway where she was certain the voice was coming from, only to see a mouth shimmer into visibility.
"Such a thing is not something that can be given to anyone." The mouth said as eyes started to become visible too. Maple started to get worried. "By order of Din, I must eliminate those that seek to rob this temple."
From the darkness emerged what could only be described as a floating gorgon's head. Maple shrieked. "A temple guard? The Oracle left one behind?" 'Of course she did you stupid stupid girl. Did you really think she'd let her greatest tool remain unprotected?' She scolded herself mentally.
The gorgon head approached her swiftly and tried to bite her. Sheer adrenaline was possibly the only reason Maple managed to dodge the attack and hop on her broom before hightailing it out of there. Too bad the fiendish thing followed her.
"STAY AWAY!"
"Did you hear that?" Link asked, turning around.
"I thought I heard a shriek." Romani told him.
A few seconds later they saw Maple harrowing towards them with no intent to stop. "GET OUT OF HERE!" She shouted as she darted past them.
"Wait! That's-" Link tried to shout, only to hear a crash. "...a dead end."
The gorgon head appeared. "More intruders. You have be dealt with as well." It opened it's mouth and a ball of dark magic started to form inside.
Link already had a good idea what this was, so he grabbed his bow and fired an arrow. The arrow hit the top lip and the fiend quivered a bit. "Ok, it's not a fake." He managed to say just before the magic fired from the mouth creating a dark energy beam that hit none of them thanks to their experience in dodging enemy attacks.
The gorgon head looked mad. "I will eliminate those that threaten Din."
Link got an idea and pulled out the Rod of Seasons. "See this? We work for Din, not against her."
Maple was mildly stunned. 'So they did have it.'
The gorgon was less than impressed. "Thieves!" It shouted, all the snakes hissing in anger. "Die!" It got ready to fire one more attack.
"Romani, stone." Link told his girlfriend as he readied another arrow.
The redhead nodded and got next to the blonde Hylian, readied her bow and arrow too. They both fired and hit the left and right cheeks of the ghoul, these arrows being stone arrows. The creature began to petrify, and fired its attack before it turned completely into stone and collapsed on the floor, shattering.
The attack would have hit Link and Romani this time, and possibly killed them, except Maple jumped up and cast a spell to move the stones of the walls to block the hit.
"Wow, thanks." Romani told the green-haired girl.
Maple smirked. "If you really want to thank me, give me that rod."
Link shook his head and put it away. "Something doesn't feel right."
"What do you mean?" Romani asked.
"That thing wanted us to think Din left it behind to protect this place in her absence. Tell me Romani, did that look like the kind of thing Din would use?"
"Maybe she wanted an intimidating guardian."
"Maybe, but my gut tells me Din had nothing to do with that thing. Maybe it was a trap."
Before more could be said, the room started to get lighter, like an unseen light source had just been lit. The walls of the hallways shimmered and phased away, soon replaced by the walls of a completely different part of the temple. One that hadn't been damaged yet.
From the four walls emerged four women in elegant dresses, one wore green, another wore yellow, another wore orange, and the last wore blue. "Thank you for destroying the beast Link and Romani. You are right in it's origins, Din did not place it here. Onox did to deceive those that would come here for Din."
Link gasped. "You're the goddesses of the seasons."
They nodded. "You have already met me. I am Harumi, Goddess of Spring." The one in the green dress said.
"I am Natsumi, Goddess of Summer." The one in the yellow dress added.
"I am Akimi, Goddess of Autumn." The one in the orange dress added.
"And you know me, Fuyumi, Goddess of Winter." The one in the blue dress finished.
"Can you help us understand how to use the Rod of Seasons?" Romani asked. "You've helped us regain half of it's power but we don't know how to use it."
"The Rod of Seasons is unlike most of the magic objects you already possess, and yet it is similar once you understand how to use it." Harumi started.
"You must be in tune with the Earth, Din's element, and sense the disturbance of the land. Feel the offset, and use the rod to correct it, or improve it, but not to corrupt it." Natsumi continued.
"It will take practice, but with it you will learn how to improve the nature around you." Akimi added.
"Use your experiences to get started, and go from there to get the correct reasons." Fuyumi concluded.
"That's it?" Link asked. "Can't you help us get the rest of its power now that you're all here?"
"We can not." Akimi told him. "Our shrines are still in need of your assistance. We can appear here, but appearing is all we can do until you free our shrines of evil."
"My shrine is the one you must head to next. There you will have the opportunity you need to practice with the rod." Natsumi told them.
"We will take you directly there, so you don't have to worry about escaping Subrosia on your own." Harumi stated. She and Fuyumi glowed, and before anyone could object, they felt the use of warp magic, then found themselves outside a shrine entryway.