Yeah, this story's still rolling. Slowly but steadily, still rolling. Truth be told this is one arc I actually... didn't have planned out too well, so that's why I'm halfway improvising with where it's going.

That being said it seems to be at least working out somewhat, I hope this doesn't come across as too talky. The next few chapters likely won't have much action in them; after all, Zelda and Saria may be able to hold their own, but one of them's a Sheikah-trained ghost - not a warrior, and the other doesn't have any magical tricks up her sleeve.

Regardless, let's see if this works out. Onwards!

"...So as soon as I had the chance I headed out. I've been flying all over this city trying to find you, the truck, anyone!" Navi finished the story as she and Saria made their way through the darkened parts of the Oligarchy's outskirts.

Saria kept moving, glancing up at the glowing sprite as she did. "Well, only one thing to do. We have to break him out." She kept a firm grasp on her spear. "My boyfriend is in trouble, Ganondorf is on his way here, and there is no way I'm letting those two forces collide without him having the edge." She stared at Navi for a moment, expecting some kind of retort.

"Okay, good. I don't have to convince you to come to his rescue. That's an edge, at least." She fluttered her wings and led the way. "I think I can find a shortcut through – hopefully nobody else knows we're here just yet."

Saria shook her head. "Those thugs were chump change – probably just looking for a quick bounty. I doubt the actual warriors know a thing about us."

Navi paused and turned to face her. "You know a lot about the Gerudo, don't you? You're moving around here like a natural, and you picked up on how that spear works pretty quick."

A smile spread across the emerald haired girl's face. "One of my early college projects was studying one of the nations. I chose the Gerudo, and specifically the warrior class. I even spent a few days here, meeting and talking to a few of the old Gerudo veterans."

A soft chuckle escaped the fairy and they continued through the streets. As they progressed, the environments slowly grew ever dirtier and dingier. "Great. The prison's right on the bad end of the worst part of town." Saria grasped the spear a little more tightly, eyes wide and watching for anyone to come out of the shadows. She ended up holding her breath for a moment when two men came around the corner abruptly, right in front of her.

"Alright, missy. Seems like you came to the wrong–" The larger thug stopped short and stared at her for a moment, then glanced to his partner. The other; a short, portly one, slowly nodded his head. "Pardon us, miss. Mistaken identity." With that they both turned and started walking away.

Saria gawked at them for a moment, still clutching the spear before speaking up. "And who was it you actually were looking for?"

A dry snort from the tubby one and he shook his head. "Someone that isn't a psycho with a Gerudo shockspear. You're known around here, missy. Us street grunts aren't gonna mess with you, but you'd better watch out for the actual fighters." They shared a snorting laugh and disappeared into the alleys.

There was a brief moment of silence between Saria and Navi, before the former glanced up. "...So I guess now you've got a new job."

"Watch your back. Yeah, I figured." The fairy brightened up her glow a few notches and started floating down in another direction. "Thankfully the prison isn't too much further away, that's the good news."

Saria kept walking. "And the bad news?"

"The bad news," Navi didn't meet her gaze, "is that I have no idea how we're going to break Link out of there. I know where he's being kept, but prison design has changed a lot since my age. All this technology stuff gives me a headache."

She chuckled. "If it ain't magic, you're clueless." She then paused before glancing up. "Hey, since you know so much about magic, how about you fill me in on some of the blanks in all this?"

"Oh! Uh, okay." The fairy began to speak as the two of them ducked through the shadows. "So, you're caught up to the whole 'magic lost to the world except for bearers of the Triforce'. The legend stated that 'the cycle will only be broken at the end of all legends'." She hovered near Saria's face. "Every scholar I've spoken to is saying the cycle only ends when Ganondorf wins. And that, well..."

"Is a terrible idea." Saria nodded as she kept moving, glancing around and dodging a few more Gerudo patrols. "So yeah, I know that one." She dodged behind a fence and looked around. "How much further to the prison?"

"Only a bit further now, thankfully. We make it a little deeper and we'll be home free. Anyway," Navi continued, "the legends aren't too specific about what's going on this time. I'm really just improvising what Link should be doing based on what I know of the old Heroes – it seemed to work for the first two Temples, and he's proven adept at dealing with all the other problems himself."

"That's my boyfriend; resourceful, if nothing else." She chuckled faintly to herself, using her spear to polevault over a fence and cut through a back alley. "But something's bothering me about all this, Navi. You're saying you're rolling with what you know from old Heroes."

"Yeah, so?"

"How often has that happened? Like, how many times have different Heroes bled over to the current one?"

There was a long moment of silence as Saria and Navi stood there, before the fairy shook a bit. "Once, as far as I can recall. The same Hero has had more than one adventure at a time, but there's only ever been one time where a prior Hero affected a current one." She hovered around Saria's head for a moment and then stopped. "It's... Strange. I didn't question it at the time, but now..."

"Now, it sounds like there's something different this time." She shook her head and kept moving. "Something about this particular chain in your 'cycle' is different this time out. It's like..."

"Like...?" Navi even sounded confused this time.

"I don't know. We're running out of ideas and probably time. This whole cycle is giving me a bad feeling." Saria focused once more on moving down the alleys and side streets. "Let's just get Link out of here. He's the so-called chosen one, he's gonna be better at this stuff than we are."

Navi floated around her head and kept guiding the way. Finally they were approaching the edges of the city, and the night sky glistened as they escaped the bright lights. Saria stopped, gazing over the edges of Gerudo civilization with wide eyes. "...I've seen this in pictures, but never in person..." She gazed up at the night sky. "Hyrule has never had such clear nights. We've civilized our nation so much that it's nearly impossible to get a good look at the night sky."

"In another cycle, another Hero found the night sky invaluable. He used it to chart his courses across the Great Sea; they called him the Hero of Winds. We've already been to his Temple." She hovered down, close to Saria's head. "It really is beautiful, when you can take a moment and ignore the pressures building..."

Her eyes were drawn to a compount in the distance, seeing the lights on. "That's it?"

"That's it." Navi flew ahead, leading Saria across the desert sands. The wind and sand blew around them and she kept her head down, dust trying to get in her eyes as she pulled her shirt up a bit to hide her face. It was a brief trek, only made longer when they had to duck behind sand dunes and keep to concealment in order to avoid the occasional vehicle and convoy heading for the prison.

Finally they were in the compound's shadow, and Saria had worked her way around to one of the more silent parts of the outer fence. "So, what's the plan?" She glanced up at Navi for a moment.

"I had a chance to look around a little bit in there. Link's in the deepest part of the security, pretty sure he's in confinement at this point." She flicked a bit of pixie dust towards a part of the prison marked by miniscule plexiglass windows. "This place is supposed to be crazy high security, but I'm not too impressed by the walls... Just concrete."

Saria laughed under her breath. "The new method for building them, Navi. Instead of walls of steel, laser detection grids and security cameras. Great for controlling prisoners..."

"...but not that good at keeping intruders out." She sparked faintly and floated around eye level. "Especially when those intruders have a pretty constant lay of the land available to them, right?" A giggle came from the fairy and Saria nodded before kneeling down and pulling the spear around. "What are you doing?"

Wordlessly she charged the electrical tip and pushed it against the fencing. A few arcs of electricity leaped across the metal, and with one bright spark the fencing finally breached. She grinned triumphantly and repeated the process on a few more links before crawling in. "Making a hole. What do you think I'm doing?"

Navi sparked briefly and followed along, huffing softly. "Well, at least you're taking some initiative..." The two of them slowly began to work their way deeper into the compound, keeping to the darkness and avoiding Gerudo patrols.

"Wait!" Navi hissed, and Saria quickly ducked before looking to where Navi was pointing. "I recognize one of those Gerudo. She was one of the guards harassing Link... I think she's one of the higher ranking guards here."

Saria's eyes widened and she smiled a bit before lighting her spear up... And whistling softly. The Gerudo whirled on her heel. "Who's there?!" Slowly she began moving towards the darkness...

And couldn't even get time to scream before Saria pushed the spear directly into the woman, electrifying her and knocking her unconscious instantly. Triumphantly the girl smiled and grabbed at the guard's ID card, pocketing it. "Alright. Well, if you're right we now have the master key to this place."

"Great!" Navi cheered, "now we can just get to the cell and break him out." She started heading for the nearest entry to the prison. Saria reached over and waved her back.

"I have a better idea." She grinned, looking around. "See if you can figure out where the command center is, hmm?" Navi simply nodded and flew off as Saria ducked away, dragging the unconscious Gerudo and dumping her in the shadows out of sight.

The fairy ducked into the cell block and began exploring. Let me see... if I remember correctly, the center of the prison is this way, so... She soared down the hallways, dodging through closing doors. Several prisoners glanced up and stared for a moment, making her stop and turn to face them. "Relax, go to sleep. It's just a dream..." They muttered to themselves, but by the time they had rubbed their eyes for another look Navi had flown off and out of sight. Prison guards were blissfully unaware of the magical intruder, giving Navi freedom to move overhead unnoticed. An air vent provided a convenient place for her to start soaring through the prison even faster, occasionally peeking out into other rooms and following the signs posted every so often.

Finally she rounded a corner and saw a room completely locked down and surrounded by mirrored plexiglass. The sign next to the door told the fairy all she needed to know. Central Control... This has to be it! Cheering mentally, she soared back off and dove the way she came, barely dodging a few wandering eyes before making it back to the darkened spot Saria was currently occupying. "Found it! It's a little ways in, though. I'm not sure how we're going to –"

Navi was cut off when she saw what had happened. Saria was now dressed in the Gerudo's uniform, and her spear was strapped to her back. Her green hair was tucked neatly underneath her hat, and overall she seemed like just another Hylian guard. "Saw a couple non-Gerudo around while you were in exploring. Figured this is as good a way to get in as any." She then opened up one of the breast pockets on the uniform and Navi ducked in, pressing herself close to try and hide. Saria took a breath, slowly let it out, and grabbed her stolen ID before badging herself into the prison compound.

The sights, sounds, and smells of the place were what hit her first and she had to focus to keep her bearing. Steady, girl... You've got to keep your head on straight for Link's sake. "So," she muttered under her breath as she started walking, "which way is the control room?"

"That way. Stay to the left, we have to cut across some of the cells in order to get over there..." She went quiet. "I had a different perspective, so as soon as you see one of those signs with directions, try and stop so I can get my bearings back."

Saria nodded, kept one hand near her spear, and moved quickly down the halls. Despite the jeers and heckling comments from the prisoners, the bars kept her separated from them quite nicely. She still kept one eye open, just in case any of them happened to be Link. "You're sure he's in solitary?"

"Is that what that part of the prison was called?" She sighed for a moment. "Yeah. That's where he's at." Saria nodded and kept moving, slowing down after a moment when she saw one of the signposts. "Alright, let's see." She undid her pocket and let Navi poke her head out, the glowing ball of light slowly looking over the posted directions. "So if we just came from there... And the control room is..."

Her examination was cut short by a Gerudo voice shouting out from down the hall. "GUARD!" Saria quickly turned, heart leaping into her throat and her hand darting for her spear. "Your uniform is completely out of regulation!" A tall, imposing Gerudo woman with far too many stripes on her collar was suddenly standing in front of her. "You Hylians are all the same. You can't keep a uniform put together properly." The woman started roughly adjusting her uniform, her face softening for a moment. "I don't recognize you... You're new around here?"

Quickly Saria nodded, trembling and swallowing heavily. The Gerudo's face softened further, and she grunted faintly. "Stupid Oligarchs, recalling all the warriors and leaving us in the lurch with a skeleton crew." A few more adjustments happened, and she nodded. "That will have to do. At least you look slightly more put-together now." She slapped Saria's back firmly, making her stagger and elicting a laugh from the desert woman. "Get back on patrol, newbie. Don't worry, you'll get your feet under you eventually." She turned and walked away.

Saria waited for her to disappear around the corner and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding before slumping against the wall. "Hey..." Navi floated up and bobbed around her face. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Just... I expected to have to blow my cover." She glanced down and realized her knuckles were white from gripping her spear. "This thing's stun function isn't the most silent weapon. That would have brought the whole prison down on us." Slowly she released her grasp and glanced at the directions again. "You know where we're going now?"

Navi giggled. "You know, a thousand years ago you would have been a great Sheikah." She then led Saria down another hallway, flying slow enough for the forest haired girl to keep up.

She gave the fairy a little glance, brows furrowing in confusion. "What makes you say that?"

"You kept your composure. You didn't panic, but you also didn't take the attack." She laughed faintly. "Impa would've been proud to teach you; you've clearly got the constitution for it already."

Saria was silent, thinking over what the fairy just said while they worked their way down the winding corridors of the prison. "Alright, here we are." She ducked back into Saria's pocket. "I hope that badge of yours is high ranking enough to let you in..."

A grip on her spear, Saria pushed her ID to the card reader. A second later an affirmative beep sounded and the locks clicked open, letting her step inside the modestly-sized room. Four Gerudo turned to look at her, and one dressed in a black uniform began stomping towards her. "Guard! What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be on your patro-OOF!" Saria cut her off with a left to the gut, quickly flicking the spear out and bringing the hilt down in a quick strike to the back of her head.

The first of the Gerudo inside the control room flew out of her seat and rushed for Saria. She dodged to the side, flipping the spear around and entangling the shaft in her legs to bring the desert woman down before ramming the electrified tip of the spear in between the shoulder blades of another one reaching for the alarm button. A stunted scream later and she was on the ground, Saria quickly stepping to put herself between the other two and the alarm.

They shared a brief look, before unfurling weapons – one with a scimitar, and the other with a lightning whip. Saria dropped her stance a little bit and dove to the side, avoiding the first crack of that whip by mere inches. Rolling with the landing she got into a crouched stance and jumped forward, tackling into the whip-wielding one and knocking her into the plexiglass, forcing it to ripple from the impact. She drove her forehead into the Gerudo's face, cracking her nose with a firm impact.

"Look out!" Navi called out and Saria saw a quick flash of motion in the window. She let go of the Gerudo she tackled and immediately dropped, letting her friend drive that scimitar into the side of the whip-user and electrifying her. The distraction and chaos gave Saria the perfect chance to jump back, grabbing her spear and ramming it into the sword-wielder just as she turned.

A second's breath later, it was over. Saria put the spear back into position on her back and she got her bearings back, glancing around. Navi flew back up close to her after that with a soft giggle. "Yeah, you have got to see about Sheikah training. You would be amazing."

She chuckled faintly and turned to one of the control panels. "Alright. So it looks like this thing controls the cameras, so... Let's see..." She started manipulating the panel, keeping one eye on the monitors. "Ah, there he is!" She zoomed the screen in when she saw Link's cell, excitement coming to her eyes. "Alright, so I think I've got some idea of how to get over there." Saria rose, starting to head for the door.

"Hey, wait!" Navi cut her off and flew back to the screen. "Look at this!" Two Gerudo guards took positions on either side of the door, and a third figure came onscreen. "Hold on... That looks like..."

Saria gasped. "Oh no... Why's he here?" She looked back at the panel and tried to change the camera, shifting perspectives to another one down the hall. "That's him. We have to hurry, Navi – if he's here, Link's in serious trouble." She jumped over to another control panel, examining the controls and switches.

"But why? What's he even doing here? Is he just trying to gloat?" Navi hovered in front of the computer screen, staring at the face currently looking into Link's cell.

On the screen, Ganondorf Dragmire smirked a little bit as the window panel opened, letting him look Link in the eyes for the first time.

You didn't think it would be that easy, did you? Read and review!