Chapter 29:
King Nohansen held his sword high as he prepared to unleash his wrath upon Link, Zelda, and Midna. He pointed his sword at Link and it unleashed a series of golden sword beams that were almost certainly laced with the power of the Triforce of Power. Seeing that his Mirror Shield might not hold against the power of a piece of the Triforce, Link countered by swinging the Master Sword to bat back the sword beams at King Nohansen as well as at Fallen Link and Princess Zelda. The evil princess and Fallen Link took this opportunity to prepare attacks on Link, Fallen Link drawing out his Magic Rod and Princess Zelda preparing an Ice spell. Young Zelda and Midna immediately formed up around Link to protect him, unleashing spells of their own. Midna unleashed two beams of Twilight Magic on Fallen Link's blast of fire magic while Young Zelda countered Princess Zelda's Ice spell with a Fire spell. The young girl's Fire spell easily overpowered the Ice spell, melting the Ice magic and streaming towards Princess Zelda, forcing her to raise an Ice shield in order to blunt the blow, which it did. Still, the Ice shield collapsed and Princess Zelda had to be careful to avoid the falling ice shards. Staring at her younger cousin, she gritted her teeth, seething at the fact that the girl had gotten the better part of the exchange. And it looked to her as if Young Zelda had not come anywhere close to breaking a sweat.
As for Midna, her magic clashed with Fallen Link's fire spell, which was large enough to incinerate a giant, and was holding steady against it, despite her own Twilight blasts only being the width of her hands. Fallen Link struggled to push the required magic into his attack to try to push back Midna's Twilight blasts but when he did so, his fire blast began to slowly push back the Twilight blasts. Midna would have none of that, though, and she pushed more power into her own magical blasts. The advance of Link's flame promptly ceased and he was back on the defensive as he attempted to keep her blasts from annihilating him. However, try as he might, Midna was just too powerful and her blasts were overwhelming his fire stream. Seeing no choice, he dove to his left in order to avoid the Twilight blasts and his own flame attack coming back at him. While he was successful in avoiding the attack, he was also quick to realize that he had pushed a lot of magic into that attack while Midna was not even close to breaking a sweat.
As for Link, he was holding his own against King Nohansen quite well. He deflected all of the king's attacks back at him, forcing him to raise a magical shield in order to protect himself. After the last blast struck his shield, collapsing it in the process, he took a step back and assessed the situation. With his abilities, he had seen the outcome of the other two clashes, each one ending in defeat for his allies. He grimaced at the turn of events. These heroes were strong, but then again, so was he. He had more than enough power at his disposal to defeat the three upstarts standing in front of him. Still, there was something that troubled him; and it wasn't Link's Master Sword. He had faced the Master Sword in the hands of a hero before and had emerged victorious. There was something different about these heroes. They were skilled, but they were also wise and cunning. They would be difficult to beat. He needed to plan things very carefully if he was to emerge from this fight victorious.
To that end, he called his daughter and her lover over to him and told them his plan. "These fighters are very dangerous," he began. "They have shown themselves to be able to defeat us if we are not careful. As such, we must formulate a plan in order to defeat them. Fortunately, I have already done so. We must face off against enemies that we are strong against. As such Link," Fallen Link immediately turned to face him, "you are to face your counterpart. Your magic should give you an edge in a swordfight. Zelda," the princess instantly turned to him and awaited his instruction, "you are to face down your cousin. She may have overpowered your Ice spell but she used an elemental spell that had an advantage against ice. If you face her with neutral spells, you will prevail because you are both older than she is and because you have the Triforce of Wisdom. As for me, I will face the Dark Woman. I am already familiar with her fighting style and my Triforce of Power can overwhelm her dark relics."
"Right," the two younger fighters said in unison.
"Very well, then go!" the king commanded.
Zelda then turned and rushed towards her younger cousin. "You're mine, bitch," she mocked, grinning, prompting the younger girl to echo her own grin.
Fallen Link then went to face down the Hero of Twilight Link. "I'm gonna make you suffer for what you did to Tetra."
"Tetra's fate was her own doing," Link answered as he readied himself for the next round in his fight against his evil counterpart.
As for King Nohansen, he stepped forward to face down Midna, who was already focusing her attention on him. "So we meet again, Dark Woman," he proclaimed. "This time, I will finish the fight and destroy you."
"That remains to be seen," Midna replied. "After all, our last fight was inconclusive at best for you." She then grinned, trying to put him ill at ease. It failed, but that did not matter to her very much. She already knew how he fought and while he was aware of her Fused Shadow transformation, he did not know that she was already familiar with the Triforce of Power and had faced someone with it before him. And Ganondorf had proven to be a far superior wielder of the relic than King Nohansen. The outcome of this battle was far from certain. It was then that the two trios faced off against each other.
Link began the fight against his villainous counterpart by drawing his bow and an Ice Arrow. Pulling back on the bowstring to activate the arrow, he then let fly with the arrow, hoping that Fallen Link would be foolish and try to block the arrow with his shield. The villain had learned his lesson from the previous attack and was careful to avoid the arrow, allowing it to sail by him and strike the ground over two dozen meters away. The explosion of ice covered a five meter radius of stone, giving Link an idea. He promptly drew another Ice Arrow, prompting Fallen Link to laugh.
"Seriously?" he said with a shrug. "You can't expect things to be any different. You won't get me again with that trick."
What Fallen Link did not realize was that Link was not going for him. He tilted his bow down as he pulled back on his string to activate the Ice Arrow. He then let fly with the arrow and the arrow struck the ground a couple of feet in front of the villain. Only when the arrow exploded and ice began to spread along the ground did Fallen Link realize what Link's plan had been.
"Oh crap," he swore as he tried to jump back and evade the expanding ring of ice. However, he was too slow and ice had managed to catch his right foot and was already spreading up his leg up to about his knee. It also reached his left foot and traveled up his left leg to about half way up the lower half of his leg. Try as he might, he was unable to move. All he could do was cast Nayru's Love in order to keep Link's next arrow from killing him. He did so and the crystal formed over his body, protecting him from Link's attacks. However, Link was not troubled. Fallen Link seemed to have a limited amount of magic available to him and he had a feeling that the villain was burning through a great deal of it. Any magic that he could force him to use here would be magic that he could not use to power a spell from his Magic Rod or any other attack item. Now, all he could do was wait while Fallen Link tried to free himself. However, Fallen Link was not without options.
The villain quickly drew out his own bow and notched an arrow to the string. This was Link's cue to bring out his Hylian Shield. As he raised it, the villain let fly with his arrow. The arrow struck Link's shield and bounced off of it, not even scratching the surface of the shield. Fallen Link quickly notched more arrows to his bow and fired them one after the other, each of them unable to pierce Link's Hylian Shield.
Seeing that he was having no success with his arrows, Fallen Link pulled at his leg to try to free himself from the ice, not only so that he would be able to move but also so that his leg would not get frostbite. This was when his Nayru's Love barrier actually hurt him, for he could not use his arrows or sword to chip away at the ice while the lower parts of his legs were beginning to freeze. He cringed as he watched Link focus his attention on him while he waited for the Nayru's Love barrier to fall so he could strike, Link was already preparing another Ice Arrow to either freeze him or keep him immobilized for when the barrier fell. Much to Fallen Link's surprise, though, Link fired the arrow at the base of the crystal. He only realized why the hero did so when he saw the ice encase his feet and rise to encase some of the barrier as well. That was when the villain's heart sank. He knew that he was in trouble now, for the moment the barrier fell, he would likely be immobilized enough that Link would be able to encase him in ice with his next Ice Arrow. All he could do now was wait for the inevitable to happen.
Meanwhile, Princess Zelda was faring just as poorly against her cousin as Fallen Link was against Link. Princess Zelda had attempted to unleash a ball of Din's Fire on Young Zelda, but the younger girl merely teleported a few meters away from her previous location, allowing the spell to detonate harmlessly. She then retaliated with two beams of light from her hands. Princess Zelda was ready for a counterattack, though, and had erected a magical shield over her body, though it was not Nayru's Love since she still wanted to have access to her other spells and not burn through a great deal of magic at the moment. She grinned as the beams of light bounced off of the shield.
"Well brat, whatcha gonna do now?" she mocked.
Young Zelda was not bothered by the recent turn of events. She did not even feel the need to shift her tactics, for she had many other magical options. She soon stooped down and curled her right hand into a fist. She then punched the ground and the ground between her and Princess Zelda began to shake. The shaking threw Princess Zelda off balance and she stumbled forward, doing her best to maintain her balance. What was worse was that she could feel waves of energy washing over her and she knew that they were inflicting damage to her as her chest and stomach began to ache. As she was stumbling around, it was notable that the ground near Link and Midna was not shaking at all and they were able to continue their battles. She tried to move but she then keeled over in agony as the pain in her stomach and chest became unbearable. Not only that, but her legs also began to hurt, as if she had just been kicked in the shins. The waves of agony caused her to cry out and fall to the ground as it continued to shake and more energy was washing over her and inflicting more damage to her. Now it was her face and head that were hurting, as of she had just taken a punch from a brawler that should have knocked her teeth out. The damage inflicted by the Earthquake spell and the energy emitted from seemed to be increasing exponentially with each passing second. If she did not stop this soon, she would die, for she could feel the spell wreaking havoc on her internal organs.
She immediately cast a healing spell on herself and was able to stop the damage from increasing. Then, slowly but surely, she felt a wave of refreshment wash over her and she felt the pain in her chest and stomach decreasing. Soon, the pain subsided from the rest of her body and she could rise and walk, as well as think, once more. Still, her chest and stomach were sore, as were her arms, meaning that she had not fully recovered from the Earthquake. While she wanted to cast a more effective shield spell over herself, she knew that if she did so, her attack options would be limited, and if her upstart namesake knew her version of Din's Fire, she could be incinerated from inside the shield and instantly killed. As such, she merely reinforced her own normal shield and continued to use a healing spell to try and heal as much of the damage as possible. Young Zelda was not going to make it easy, though.
The young girl immediately launched a ball of water that was about eight feet in diameter, enough to engulf Princess Zelda, her way. The princess held out her hand to catch the ball and of water and send it back at the girl, but the moment it touched her hand, it expanded and surrounded the princess, engulfing her. Now, Princess Zelda was trapped inside a massive ball of water. Her shield would be useless in getting her air. The only good thing was that she had several ways to try to counter this latest setback.
The first thing she tried was to use fire to try to evaporate the water. This proved to be a huge mistake, for all it did was make the water much hotter and begin to burn her, causing her to let out an underwater scream. Young Zelda barely suppressed her laughter at her older cousin's seeming stupidity. She was suddenly wondering how the older Zelda had managed to become so dangerous and powerful in the first place. She then added her own fire to Princess Zelda's fire, superheating the water to the point where it was boiling, ignoring her initial plan of freezing the water into a block of ice and shattering it, along with Princess Zelda. The princess immediately ceased casting her fire spell and then cast an ice spell, hoping that she could cool down the water before she was boiled alive. Despite the power of the Ice spell, though, it was insufficient to cool the water to the point where she would survive long enough to even drown and it did nothing to ease the pain she was feeling. All Princess Zelda could do was scream. However, she was not willing to surrender just yet. She still had one option. With nothing left to lose, Princess Zelda decided to use Farore's Wind to try and teleport out of the ball of water. She cast the spell, barely managing to raise her burning hands above her head and cast the spell. The green ball of light formed over her head and then expanded to engulf her and she disappeared from the ball of water, which promptly collapsed onto the ground as soon as she had vanished from it.
Princess Zelda reappeared almost ten meters away from where the ball had been. When she reappeared the small amount of water that was still on her dripped off of her, though that was small comfort to the princess as she had still been horribly scalded by the boiling water. She quickly fell to her knees in pain, struggling to cast a healing spell to heal the damage that had been inflicted. Just as with the Earthquake spell, which had inflicted severe internal damage to her, the damage to her skin was not fully healed by her first healing spell and Young Zelda was not going to give her a chance to cast another one. She quickly unleashed a blizzard of ice the princess's way and the older Zelda was forced to go evasive and fire off a series of non-elemental magical bolts to try to force the younger Zelda to go evasive. The younger Zelda, however, merely raised a reflective Nayru's Love barrier and reflected the magical bolts back at the princess, each bolt slamming into her body. Had her own natural magical defenses not been so great, the bolts would have drilled massive holes into her body. As it was, though, they merely inflicted small burns and non-lethal furrows that were instantly cauterized by the heat. Still, things were looking grim for the princess, for she was using a great deal of magic at a blistering pace while her younger cousin looked to be barely breaking a sweat. It was as if it was Young Zelda with the Triforce of Wisdom, rather than the older one. It was only the Triforce of Wisdom and the magical ability that it granted that was keeping the older Zelda alive. She gritted her teeth in anger but still backed away from the younger girl as she approached, desperately trying to come up with a plan to turn this fight around, for if this fight continued on its current path, she may very well lose. Still, she did have the Triforce of Wisdom, and her flaw in the beginning of the fight was that she had underestimated her cousin. Now, she knew what her cousin was capable of and it was time to turn this fight around.
As for King Nohansen and his fight against Midna, he was faring a little better than the other two had been against their opponents, but Midna was still getting the better part of the exchange. King Nohansen had begun the fight against Midna by charging her with blinding speed, using the power of the Triforce of Power to great effect, and thrusting his sword right at her throat. The former Twilight Queen only avoided the thrust by disappearing and teleporting right behind the king. King Nohansen sensed her reappearance, though, and quickly reversed his grip on the sword and thrust it backwards. However, in the time it took to reverse his grip and thrust his sword backwards, Midna had already moved out of the way. She then powered a ball of Twilight magic and launched it at the king at point blank range. The ball struck the king in the back and knocked him forward a few steps, but other than that, it did not inflict any real damage.
King Nohansen retaliated by turning around and quickly pointing his sword at Midna. He then unleashed a golden lance of light from the sword that struck the former Twilight Queen squarely in the chest. The blast lifted Midna off her feet and sent her flying towards a wall. However, before she collided with the wall, she disappeared from sight, surprising the king but instantly putting him on guard. He magically raised his defenses, scanning the entire arena for the Twili, expecting her to reappear close to him in order to launch an attack, or possibly even strike from behind. Surprisingly, she did not do as he had expected, for she was nowhere to be seen. He thrust his sword behind him, expecting her to be behind him, but his sword struck nothing but air. As he scanned the atrium he spotted his daughter and her lover in their battles against their opponents, wondering if Midna was going to assist one of her friends, but he quickly found that her friends were more than holding their own against Princess Zelda and Fallen Link. They did not need her help at all. He then used the power of the Triforce of Power to try to find her, assuming her to be invisible. Surprisingly, though, even with the power of the relic, he was unable to find her. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if the former Twilight Queen had become intangible. He had not remembered that as being one of her powers, but he would not have put it past her. He then went about adjusting the parameters of his search when he felt something coming from behind.
Midna suddenly appeared behind the king and unleashed several beams of light at him. At this close range, the king was unable to mount an effective defense and had to rely on the defenses that were already up. The first beam was absorbed by his defenses and inflicted no damage whatsoever to him. The second and third began to batter down his defenses but still inflicted no damage. The fourth one, however, managed to pierce what was left of his defenses and burned a small hole in his armor. It was not enough to injure the king, but the beam still managed to burn part of his skin and hurt him. The pain was shocking to the king, for he had never felt real pain since he had acquired the power of the Triforce piece in his hand.
"Damn," he muttered as he backed away, reinforcing his defenses in preparation for his own counterattack of the Twili sorceress. "That hurt."
As for the king, despite the slight damage inflicted by the attack, he still had plenty of options available to him. The Dark Woman was not a swordfighter and did not have any secondary weaponry besides her magic, which he knew he could wear down if he forced her to use enough of it. He began his next offensive by holding up his sword, the golden energy field surrounding it emitting a blinding flash of light as its power doubled. He then fired a series of blasts at the former Twilight Queen, but she managed to erect a shield of Light around her, causing the blasts of light to bounce off of it. King Nohansen then charged Midna to try to behead her, but she was too quick for him. She instantly turned intangible and the sword passed right through her, striking nothing but air. She just as quickly became tangible once more and unleashed a ball of Light magic that the king did not know she knew how to use. The ball collided with the king and exploded, sending him skidding backwards. Only the magical shield that he had raised while charging the woman prevented the ball of light from annihilating him on impact. Even though it was not fatal, it still damaged his shield and made him more vulnerable to her other attacks. However, he was not about to let her unleash another attack on him.
King Nohansen quickly went back on the offensive, unleashing a massive barrage of fireballs at the Twili woman. The fireballs struck the Twili woman's shield, causing it to flare with each hit, but it did little to pierce it and by the time the barrage was finished, Midna's shield still stood. However, King Nohansen was not deterred. His next attack was to thrust his sword forward and fire off a lance of golden energy. Feeling that this lance had special properties behind it, likely either shield-breaking or shield-piercing properties, she attempted to duck out of the way. Unfortunately, she was too slow and the lance managed to strike her shield. Her shield instantly fell upon the lance making contact with it, but other than the shield falling, she suffered no actual damage. Still, she was now vulnerable to King Nohansen's other attacks, which the king took full advantage of.
The King of Hyrule quickly initiated a new series of attacks, conjuring a massive snowball in front of his hand. He then propelled it towards the former Twilight Queen, hoping that it would roll over her and either crush her or encase her in snow, allowing him to freeze her and then shatter her. Midna did not cooperate, though, quickly going intangible and allowing the snowball to pass right through her. King Nohansen gritted his teeth and conjured two balls of golden energy in his hands, a gift for the Twili woman when she became tangible once more.
After a few seconds, Midna became tangible once more, which was Nohansen's cue to fire on her. However, the instant the Twili woman became tangible, and the King of Hyrule fired the golden balls of magic, Midna teleported away, causing the balls to pass though air once more, each one crashing into the ground several meters past her previous position and detonating, creating holes in the ground that were five meters in diameter and two meters deep. Midna then reappeared on the other side of the town center and unleashed a massive barrage of Twilight magical balls.
King Nohansen sensed the balls coming and erected a Nayru's Love barrier to intercept the balls. However, the balls quickly changed their course and simply began to orbit him. His eyes went wide with dread, for he quickly realized that Midna had guessed his strategy for dealing with her attack. The last thing he had expected was that she could guide her Twilight scattershot. And the problem with his reflective Nayru's Love barrier was that it was only in effect for a very short period of time and that he would not be able to erect a shield over himself to intercept all of the blasts before they converged on him. The best he could do was to increase his magical defenses and hope that they would allow him to survive the assault, for there was no way that he would avoid all, or even most, of the balls.
The moment the Nayru's Love barrier fell, the Twilight scattershot converged on King Nohansen. He curled his arms over his himself and increased his natural magical defenses to hopefully augment his durability against the attacks so that the attack would not be fatal. Each ball came crashing into the body of the king and promptly exploded as if they were shaped charges, the explosions sending energy right towards his body. His defenses were pushed to the limit and strained against the constant onslaught by the Twilight scattershot. And to make matters worse, some of the energy managed to bleed through his defenses and burn his skin. By the time the last of the balls of magic had struck him, his clothing and body were burned, smoking, and disheveled, his once bright white hair now marred with black marks and burnt ends, while his clothing was scarred with burn marks, and cuts. His exposed skin was now red from the heat and damage suffered from the magical onslaught. The king was quick to cast a healing spell, but that would only partially offset the damage he had suffered.
He looked over at Midna in amazement. He had never been taken this far to the brink before. All of his other enemies merely fell before him with little to no effort. Not even the mighty Bowser the Great had his level of power. What was happening here? How could this woman, a woman who despite having artifacts of power was not transformed and did not appear to be using them, be beating him like this? He glanced around the rest of the town center and found that his daughter and her lover were having similar difficulties against their opponents, too. He had to change the situation and fast, for he realized now that one-on-one, he, Princess Zelda, and Fallen Link would lose.
Back over where Fallen Link was engaging the Hero of Twilight Link, the villain was still having incredible difficulty against the hero. He was struggling to pull his leg out of the ice, a task made that much more difficult by the Nayru's Love barrier he had cast over himself to protect himself from being frozen completely solid by Link's Ice Arrows in the first place. Not only that, but several subsequent Ice Arrows fired near the barrier had caused an ice wall to form around the villain, in essence trapping him so that once the barrier fell, he would be vulnerable to being frozen. He had only one chance to give himself a chance to get out of this danger.
He held up the Four Sword and the sword began to glow. After a second, three doppelängers formed around the trapped Fallen Link. They immediately charged towards Link, hoping to engage him in close combat and force him to divert his attention away from the original Fallen Link. Their plan, however, had one major flaw. As they approached, the Nayru's Love barriers that were over them, due to them having been created while Fallen Link had still had the barrier up, vanished and they were vulnerable to a Great Spin. Link quickly drew the Master Sword and performed the attack once more. A wave of energy was emitted by the sword and it cut the doppelgängers in half, instantly dispersing them.
As for Fallen Link, the disappearance of the Nayru's Love barrier was a blessing, for he was finally able to get at the ice that had frozen some of his extremities. He sheathed his sword and drew out the Magic Rod. He then used the rod to fire off a series of weak fireballs, strong enough to melt the ice, but not strong enough to hurt him too badly. The ice melted and Fallen Link was able to move, albeit his legs were still cold and he worried that he may have suffered some frostbite in his feet. He hoped that it was not too extensive, though it must not have been too bad since he was still able to walk. He used the Magic Rod to melt the ice around him and give himself an avenue of escape just as Link had drawn another Ice Arrow and fired. Fallen Link managed to flee from the arrow's path and it sailed past him. He grinned.
"You missed your chance, hero," he gloated. "Now it's my turn. And I won't miss."
He then raised his sword high and charged straight towards the hero, charging the Four Sword and forming three more doppelgängers for the hero to face. Link was ready for this, though, and he held up the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield. The villains were quick to converge on him and he performed a Great Spin just as he had previously. The wave of energy spread out from the Master Sword but the Fallen Links raised their shields and managed to blunt the blow. Even though the blow was blunted, there were still furrows in their tunics with lines of red, indicating that the wave had burned through the tunics and even some skin.
The four Fallen Links still converged on the hero and went to bring their swords down upon the hero while Link had to wait for the Master Sword to charge up again before he could perform another Great Spin. Link was not troubled, though. He had plenty of other Hidden Skills that would be useful in this type of situation. Focusing on the Fallen Link with the red tunic, he jumped over the horizontal slash performed by the evil doppelgänger and flipped, bringing his sword down upon the head of Red Fallen Link, the blade biting into the doppelgänger's flesh, causing the Fallen Link to stumble forward as Link landed behind him, and into a slash performed by Blue Fallen Link. Blue's sword practically bisected Red Fallen Link, causing the doppelgänger to disperse, leaving only three Fallen Link's for the hero to fight.
The other three Fallen Links ignored the death of Red Fallen Link and focused solely on killing the hero. By now, though, the Master Sword had charged up once more and Link was able to perform another Great Spin Attack. Green Fallen Link, the original one, recognized this fact as he noticed a silver spark travel the length of the Master Sword's blade, indicating that it was charged for another Great Spin. He backed away from the hero and raised his shield as the other two Fallen Links converged on the hero, and ran straight into the Great Spin. The wave did not have to destroy the doppelgängers, for the glowing Master Sword was more than sufficient to do so. Since they were so close to Link, though, they were unable to shield the original Fallen Link from the energy wave released by the sword, which plowed right into Fallen Link, leaving a massive rend and burn scar into his shield, cutting the villain along the chest, and knocking his sword away, though he was still able to hold onto the blade despite being knocked off balance. This, however, made him vulnerable to further attack.
Link charged towards Fallen Link and took a swipe at him. The villain raised his damaged shield in order to try to deflect the attack but the damaged shield was unable to hold up to Link's sword. The moment the sword made contact with the Fallen Link's shield, several more cracks formed in the shield and the upper left quarter of the shield went to pieces and fell away from the shield. Fallen Link grimaced and tossed away the now useless metal shield. He seethed as he glared at Link. This was not how the fight was supposed to go. Link had no magic save for those Magic Arrows, which were not even powered by his own magic, but by their own bound magic. He should have been able to run roughshod over Link. Instead, here he was on his last legs with no shield and a severely drained magic supply. Had he not had that one fairy in reserve, he would have already been dead.
Seeing that the fight was drawing down to its conclusion and that he would have to make an all or nothing strike against the hero, he gripped the Four Sword with both hands and focused entirely on Link. He then rushed toward Link, holding the Four Sword high. Link saw the attack coming from a mile away, though, and raised his Hylian Shield in order to intercept it. He thrust his shield forward, not only intercepting the strike, but also knocking Fallen Link off balance, causing him to lose command of his sword. Link then performed a vertical slash on Fallen Link, bringing his sword down on Fallen Link's sword hand. The Master Sword easily severed Fallen Link's left hand cleanly at the wrist, the severed hand falling to the ground and Fallen Link backing away, screaming in agony as he clutched his wrist. Link prepared to finish the fight, but Fallen Link quickly retreated away from him, continuing to cry out in agony, abandoning his hand, the Four Sword, as well as the Triforce of Courage, for the Triforce piece was still glowing in his hand. He went to the other end of the stadium, crying, cursing, and clutching his wrist.
Link went over to it and reached down, touching Fallen Link's severed hand, making sure to grab the Four Sword in the process and toss it far away from the severed hand. When he touched Fallen Link's hand, he felt a wave of energy wash over him as a golden triangle rose from the severed hand of the villain. Link reached out and touched the Triforce of Courage, the Triforce piece not fading into his hand, but continuing to remain visible. He then grabbed it and scanned the rest of the arena to see if any of his friends needed help. He had one piece of the relic and he would only need the other two before he could save Hyrule.
Over at the fight between Midna and King Nohansen, the king of Hyrule already looked to be on his last legs. He was breathing heavily after having unleashed a massive Death Storm, a small ball of magic where the slightest touch was fatal to the opponent, only to have it dispersed by a series of Light beams launched by Midna. While the king could feel that Midna was using up a lot of magical energy in the fight, she still had a great deal of magic left in the tank, while his own magic was beginning to run on empty. He looked down at his right hand and the Triforce mark on it began to glow. While he did not seriously want to consider using the full power of the Triforce of Power and transforming into what could become a hideous beast, he felt as if he had little choice, for Midna was simply too strong for him to beat in a fair fight.
The king saw Midna approaching with a confident smile on her face and then grinned.
"I admit that you are strong. In a normal fight, you would even be my superior. But I have something you don't. I have a power that you can scarcely imagine. You will soon learn the true power of the King of Hyrule!"
With that, he showed her the back of his right hand. The Triforce of Power was glowing in the hand. The glow became brighter and brighter until the king's entire body began to glow a bright gold. Nohansen then began to rise into the air as his body seemed to increase in size. Golden armor formed around his chest, arms, and legs and his face glowed more brightly than the sun.
"This is my true power!" the king cried out in a voice so loud that Midna would not have been surprised if the entirety of Hyrule had heard it. "The power to kill a world!"
She grimaced at the sight of the King of Hyrule in his powered up form. He still looked like a humanoid, but he was glowing a bright golden-white. She knew that in her current form, she had no chance against him. He quickly focused his gaze down upon her and tried to unmake her with his willpower alone. However, the attack was easily telegraphed as lightning crackled around his eyes. She quickly teleported away from the spot where she was standing and an instant after she vanished, cracks seemed to form in reality and the sound like breaking glass was heard as the scene of the stadium vanished and in its place was what looked like a purple vortex. The vortex soon vanished, though, and reality seemed to heal.
The former Twilight Queen reappeared several feet above the scene and smiled as she looked down at the vortex as it disappeared. She had gotten a good gauge of his power and while the king was powerful, he was not skilled in the use of its power, certainly not to the level of Ganondorf, whom she had actually managed to survive, albeit having a piece of the Fused Shadows being crushed in the process. She would need the reconstructed Fused Shadows for her to have a chance against King Nohansen. And while the king was no Ganondorf, he was still powerful. She knew that the Fused Shadows might not be enough for her to take down the king, but she knew that she had no other options.
She closed her eyes and the Fused Shadows materialized in front of her. They then began to orbit her body and then closed around her, forming armor around her body. The moment they closed around her, she was immediately transformed into a large, spider-like beast with a large black Twilight Spear. King Nohansen openly ridiculed Midna's Fused Shadow transformation.
"Ha, ha, ha. Is that all you've got? You'll never be able to defeat me if that is all the power that transformation gives you!"
The king then raised his sword high above his head. Midna retaliated by readying her spear, focusing on the king's head since despite the fact that it now seemed to be made of energy, it was still exposed. A single thrust could inflict significant damage if she managed to get through Nohansen's defenses. King Nohansen then pointed his sword up at Midna and unleashed a massive golden wave of energy her way. The spider-like Midna was forced to thrust her spear downward in order to intercept the attack and hopefully pierce it, allowing her to strike at the king, or at least prevent the wave from inflicting damage on or killing her.
Her spear made contact with the wave of energy and stopped it in its tracks, something that surprised both her and the king. King Nohansen immediately pushed more magic into the wave, hoping to be bolster its strength and allow it to overwhelm Midna's power. Midna would not go down so easily and she called upon more of the Fused Shadows' power in order to counter the energy wave. She also focused on a single point on the wave, knowing that while she could not overwhelm the entire wave, that if she focused on one point, she could hopefully break through and strike at the king.
As she pushed harder against the wave, she could feel an indent begin to form on it and she could feel herself powering through it. Looking down at the king, she saw that she was beginning to push back the wave and make her way towards King Nohansen. King Nohansen could only look up in horror as he saw her powering her way through the wave. How was this possible? How could a portion of the power of the gods be overpowered by relic created by mortals?
The King of Hyrule's mind raced as he tried to come up with counters for Midna as she was powering her way through the wave towards him. There was no way this should have been happening to him. He should not be losing this fight. Still, nothing came to mind and all he could think of doing was adding more power to the wave, hoping that it would be enough to stop Midna. It was not enough, though, as Midna pushed the energy wave right back to the king. Nohansen could see the tip of Midna's spear approaching as the wave was parting around the tip far enough so that none of the wave managed to hit the spider-like Midna. King Nohansen immediately cupped his hands in the hope of being able to focus enough energy on the spear to push it away but it would be too little, too late as the top touched the source of the energy wave and there was a massive explosion of golden light and sound that engulfed both combatants and a cloud of dust rose from the center of the fight, obscuring the two combatants.
After a few seconds, the dust cleared and Midna was seen slowly rising from the ground under her own power, albeit back in her normal humanoid form. When she stood, she took one step forward and stumbled a bit, going back down onto one knee but was able to steady herself and rise again. Looking ahead, she saw King Nohansen simply lay on the ground, his eyes wide with shock as he looked up at Midna.
"How?" he gasped. "How could you manage to defeat me? I had the Triforce of Power?"
"But you didn't know how to use it effectively," Midna answered. "And you're not the first person I've fought who used the relic. Ganondorf used it far better than you did."
The king seethed and struggled to rise once more but was unable to do so. Still, he was not defeated yet.
"Perhaps," he admitted, weakly. "But you're no longer transformed," he added with a grin. "I know what you did. You pushed all of your energy into that last attack on me, but I'm still alive and all of your power is gone meaning that this fight is over."
He then grinned as he managed to his hand towards Midna. A golden ball of energy formed around it and he said, "This is the end."
He was then about to fire the ball of energy on Midna when a lance of dark energy erupted from Midna's hand and speared the king squarely in the chest. His eyes went wide with pain and shock and then, suddenly, were blank as he went limp and fell to the floor. Midna extended her magical senses to see if the king was dead. She could feel his heartbeat get slower and slower until it eventually came to a stop. She then sighed. The King of Hyrule was dead. She then went up to the king to claim the Triforce of Power. She reached down with her hand and touched his own hand. When her hand made contact with his own, there was a bright golden flash and Midna saw a golden triangle rise from the dead king's hand. She quickly grabbed it and gripped it tightly. Now that she had the Triforce of Power, all that was needed was the other two Triforce pieces. She only hoped that Link and Zelda had managed to acquire the Triforce pieces from their opponents. Only then would they be able to make the wish to recede the floodwaters and restore Hyrule.
As for the two Zeldas, Princess Zelda was quickly evening up the battle with her younger cousin. Using more of the power of the Triforce of Wisdom, she had managed to counter Young Zelda's onslaught and was at least holding her own. The younger Zelda had fired several beams of light at her, only to have Zelda reflect them with a reflective Nayru's Love barrier. The beams collided with a shield erected by the girl and did not inflict any damage. Princess Zelda extended he hands and retaliated with a barrage of fireballs. The wave of fireballs was too great in width for the younger Zelda to dodge, so she had to rely on her shield to absorb them. Several of the balls of flame struck her shield and caused it to flare, indicating that it was taking damage. Princess Zelda grinned at the sight. She knew that the girl was having trouble coping with her newfound power. She had her. It was time to finish this fight.
The princess held out her hands and summoned a massive tidal wave of water into the atrium, the wave hovering over the head of the princess. With a single sweep of her arms, she sent the wave crashing towards Young Zelda. Since the wave was too large to be reflected by a reflective Nayru's Love barrier, the younger Zelda raised a shield and sent her own wave of water to intercept her older cousin's tidal wave. Her wave of water crashed into the tidal wave but was easily overwhelmed by the larger wave. The tidal wave came crashing down upon Young Zelda and she pushed more of her magical reserves into her shield, hoping that it would be enough to hold out against her sister's attack. Her shield flared and strained to hold back the tidal wave as the wave crashed against it and seemingly dispersed, the water spreading out to the sides in order to try to find a hole to travel through.
Seeing that the water would wash over the edges and still flood the town center, she pushed her remaining magical reserves into the shield so that it could expand to create a wall that for all intents and purposes split the town center in half. The water attempted to find way around the shield but it was stopped at every turn. The tidal wave was still strong, though, and her shield was straining greatly since it had to hold out against a massive tidal wave, as well as extend from one end of the town center to the other in order to keep the water from crushing Young Zelda, and possibly the other combatants as well. Eventually, the shield reached its breaking point and it shattered, causing the younger Zelda to fall to one knee. Fortunately, that was the exact point when the water dissipated, the magic fueling it having been used up. Still, things were looking bleak for Young Zelda since her older cousin was nearing her and had extended her hand towards her. Things, however, were about to take a turn for the better.
Midna, having witnessed the exchange, as well as seeing that Link had just acquired the Triforce of Courage and was waving towards her, extended a magical lance of Twilight magic Princess Zelda's way. The princess saw the attack coming and grinned, raising her right hand in order to intercept the lance and block the attack, or so she thought. What she did not realize until it was too late was the fact that Midna's lance was not designed to kill her, merely extract the Triforce of Wisdom. The moment the lance made contact with her hand, it drew the Triforce of Wisdom right out of the princess's hands.
Young Zelda saw the Triforce of Wisdom rise from her older cousin's hand and she was quick to fire a bolt of magic at her cousin to push her away. The bolt of magic leapt from the young girl's hand and streaked towards the princess. The bolt struck the princess squarely in the chest, the force of the impact knocking her off her feet and sending her flying several meters through the air. She crashed into the floor and skidded along the dirt ground, coming to a halt a few feet from her landing point. There she lay, not moving but the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest indicated that she was still alive.
With Princess Zelda having been defeated, the younger Zelda rushed over to the Triforce of Wisdom and grabbed it, the relic glowing a bright gold as she touched it. She then looked over at Midna, who showcased the Triforce of Power, and then at Link, who was coming over to her with the Triforce of Courage. She scanned for the location of Fallen Link and saw him lying on the ground, clutching his wrist. She noticed a severed hand lying on the ground that she suspected had once belonged to the villain.
When Midna and Link joined Young Zelda, the other two quickly held out their Triforce pieces. Young Zelda did the same and they let the ends of the Triforce pieces touch so that the Triforce could be whole once more. The moment the ends touched, the triple triangle relic glowed a bright gold and it was whole once again. Now all that needed was for the wish to be made.
Link reached out with his hand and touched the Triforce, the relic glowing as he touched it. The moment he did so, he wished with all of his heart that the floodwaters would recede from Hyrule and that the stasis field would be lifted. A high-pitched chime filled the coliseum as the relics glowed. The volume and pitch began to rise as the relics ascended into the air. After they were a few feet off the ground, there was a brilliant flash that forced the three heroes to close their eyes. When they opened their eyes, the glanced around the town square and wondered if the wish was successful, for they could not see out over the edge of the floating island.
Had the trio been in the world below, they would have witnessed the Great Sea recede. A great draining sound echoed forth over the Great Sea as the waters receded. At first, the ships that sailed the Great Sea did not notice that anything was wrong and that the sea was receding. That changed as, for them, the water suddenly vanished from beneath their vessels and their vessels were suddenly falling through the air to shatter when they hit the ground below. In reality, the naval vessels had entered the stasis field, which did not lower until the waters had fully receded, since there were soldiers loyal to Hyrule trapped beneath the sea, and were frozen in time. When the stasis field had lowered and time flowed normally once more, there was no water underneath the ships, only dry land.
The ships went crashing to the ground falling from incredible heights. The wooden ships practically shattered upon impact, the force of the impacts collapsing their superstructures and hulls. The metal ships fared a little better, being made of stronger materials. However, they still would never have been seaworthy upon striking the ground, for their hulls were all bent out of shape and there were numerous cracks, rends, and breaches in them. It also did the crews of the ships no good as the impact would cause the crewmembers to crash into the wall at high speeds, killing them, assuming the damage to the hulls did not crush them as the bulkheads compressed. Needless to say, in mere moments, the navies of Hyrule were utterly decimated, only the Hyrulean Navy that had gone with King Nohansen to the Mushroom Kingdom having survived, and when they would return, they would find that access to the homeland would be difficult, for without the sea, the soldiers onboard would have to either cross the Gerudo Desert, or some other landmass that would be heavily defended. Needless to say, it would be difficult for them to accomplish at best. At worst, they would be destroyed before ever reaching Hyrule and facing off against the soldiers loyal to the Sages.
As for the soldiers on the ground trapped inside the stasis field, when the waters had fully receded, the stasis field lowered and all of the soldiers that were trapped inside the field were free to move once more. To them, only an instant had passed and they did not know that ten years had gone by. They had been in the middle of a battle and did not skip a beat, the forces loyal to the Sages opening fire on the soldiers loyal to King Nohansen, felling many of them. King Nohansen's soldiers returned fire, killing many of their enemies, but the soldiers and Knights loyal to the Sages were too great in number and after another few volleys of fire, they forced the forces loyal to King Nohansen into full retreat. They pursued the evil Knights and soldiers and none of the enemy survived the fight.
Back up in Skyloft, the Triforce floated back towards the ground, where it touched down. Upon touching the ground, the glow died and the relic seemed to become inanimate. Link, Young Zelda, and Midna, looked over at the fallen Princess Zelda and the wounded Fallen Link, who was clutching the stump of his wrist, but seemed to not be moving much. They wondered if the Fallen Link was already dead.
"Pitiful," Young Zelda said wistfully. "They had everything. They had each other, and they decided to do this, not only to the Sages, but to Hyrule. It must be a failing of mine, but I cannot feel any sympathy for them."
"You're not the only one," Midna answered in a melancholy tone. "And I saw them kill Young Link."
Tears welled up in the young Zelda's eyes at the mention of Young Link. "I'm sorry," Midna began. "Was he a friend?"
Young Zelda nodded. "He was my best friend. If anyone deserved to live, it was him."
Link looked down at the ground wistfully, too. Those three had taken Hyrule so far down the dark path. The kingdom was in shambles and even with the floodwaters and stasis field gone, or perhaps because of it, things were likely to get even worse before they got better. Many people were now without work. Hyrule's military was now virtually non-existent, save for the resistance soldiers that had been trapped inside the stasis field, and there were likely still soldiers away from Hyrule that had been loyal to King Nohansen. They would surely seek revenge for the death of their king. Link was about to turn and try to find his way out of Skyloft when he heard the sound behind him. Evidently, Midna and Young Zelda had heard it too, for they each turned to seek the source of the sound. Each of their eyes went wide as they saw that the source of the sound was none other than Princess Zelda, a yellow triangle floating above her head. Her clothes were disheveled and there were numerous burn marks on her body, along with some cuts, but there was also a gold outline to her body, indicating that she still had some fight left in her.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" she cackled. "Did you really think you'd beat me that easily? I didn't just have the Triforce, fools. I also had the Light Force, the very Light Force I took from my daughter as she lay dying inside the castle! And now, I'll destroy you all with it! Come with me to my father's secret dimension!"
With that, a dark dome of energy emanated from Princess Zelda and spread out from around her. The dome of energy quickly approached Midna, who attempted to back away but could not before it washed over her. Link rushed over to her, raising his Mirror Shield in the hope that by using his body and shield as a shield for her that she could survive. Still, it was not the case and as the energy wave washed over her, they vanished from the grounds. As for Zelda, she instinctively touched the Triforce on the ground and the relic whisked her away from Skyloft, depositing her just outside the structure. Looking next to her, she also found the Four Sword being deposited next to her as well. She then looked into the sky and saw the dome of energy vanish. Extending her sight, she looked inside the coliseum and saw that nothing remained inside at all. All traces of Link, Midna, her cousin, her cousin's lover, and her uncle had vanished.
Link and Midna found themselves inside a dark area that they did not immediately recognize. Glancing around, they thought that they were inside a cave until they saw that they were standing on a platform suspended in midair. On the platform with them was Princess Zelda, the wounded Fallen Link, along with the body of King Nohansen. The duo scanned their surroundings and noticed a shimmering field around the perimeter of the platform they strongly suspected was some sort of barrier. It was obvious to them that they were not in the same realm as Hyrule. Princess Zelda looked over at them, grinning.
"This realm was a secret realm discovered by my father over a decade ago," the princess told the duo. "He kept all sorts of useful artifacts and relics here, too. This shall be your final resting place. And I will make it an eternal monument to those who would defy the Hyrulean Royal Family!"
With that, she used the power of the golden triangle above her head to power a blast of light that was intended to be used to destroy the two of them. This prompted Midna to push her remaining magic into a ball of Twilight Magic in order to counter Princess Zelda's newfound power, but the wounded Fallen Link had other ideas. With his remaining hand, he drew his Magic Rod and prepared to unleash a massive cone of flame upon Link and Midna, hoping to burn them alive. Link countered by drawing his bow and a Light Arrow. He took aim at the wounded villain and once he had drawn a bead on him, he let fly with his Light Arrow. The Light Arrow streaked through the air and hit its mark. The moment the arrow struck Fallen Link, it exploded into a ring of light, the villain giving out a cry of agony and defeat in the process. The ring of light congealed into a number of balls of light and were drawn back into the villain as if he were some sort of black hole. Upon striking the villain once more, the villain was completely annihilated. By the time the light had dissipated, there was no trace of Fallen Link's remains, his body being completely annihilated by the Light. All that was left was Princess Zelda.
As for the princess, she extended her hands and unleashed her massive ball of light on the former Twilight Queen, forcing Midna to fire her own blast in order to counter it. The two magical attacks collided with each other directly in the middle of the platform, each one stopping in its tracks as it collided with the other. Despite possessing the Light Force, the power of the Light blast was not overpowering Midna's Twilight blast. At best, they were dead even, and at worst, Midna's ball looked like it was beginning to take control of the blast-o-war, for her ball of Twilight Magic was pushing back Princess Zelda's ball of Light magic.
Princess Zelda's eyes went wide with shock. "No!" she screamed, incredulous at the fact that her ball of light could be overwhelmed by Midna, who looked to have used up the powers of the Fused Shadows against King Nohansen, for she had not transformed into a spider-like beast in their battle.
Midna made no response as she continued to push her ball of magic against Princess Zelda's. Still, with each passing second, the outcome of the battle looked to be more and more certain. Despite her best efforts, the princess could not overwhelm Midna's attack. She pushed more power into the ball of light, managing to stop the advance of the magical attacks, only for Midna to do likewise with her own ball of magic, allowing her to retake control of the fight.
Eventually, Princess Zelda ran out of time, for the combined magical attacks were right upon her. She pushed one last ounce of energy into the ball, but it was not enough. The ball made contact with her and exploded. A wave of light washed over Princess Zelda upon the detonation of the ball, causing her to cry out in agony for a brief second before she fell to the ground, dead. As she fell to the ground, though, her hand opened, revealing a strange metallic ball, which rolled out onto the ground. The moment it did so, a field of energy erupted from it and spread across the entire platform. Link and Midna could see a grin frozen on Princess Zelda's face, the bomb-like ball being her last act of defiance. Once the field extended over them, they saw the clouds above freeze as if they were completely frozen. There they were, an eternal monument to the battle between good and evil.
Back in Hyrule, Young Zelda was making her way back to the newly restored Hyrule Castle Town. She kept the completed Triforce in her hand while she traveled so that no one would know that she possessed the relic. She wanted to take it to the Temple of Time so it could return to the Sacred Realm as quickly as possible.
As she arrived just outside of Hyrule Castle Town, several balls of light appeared before her, each one in the color of a certain Sage. There were then several brilliant flashes of light and the balls of light were replaced by the Sages, at the head of the Sages was Rauru.
"Greetings Queen Zelda," Rauru stated plainly as he bowed before her.
Zelda's eyes went wide with shock. "Queen?" she gasped.
The other Sages nodded. "With the death of King Nohansen, his daughter, her lover, and most of the nobles in Hyrule, you are the one with the greatest claim to the throne," Rauru answered.
"But I'm only twelve!" the girl protested.
"You will have guidance," Rauru assured her.
"But I never wanted to rule Hyrule. I don't want to rule."
"And that may be what makes you the best fit for Hyrule at this moment," Rauru answered with a kind smile.
"Well, will you at least take the Triforce?" Zelda almost begged. "As much as I may grow to like power, I don't want to be tempted by it."
"Sure," Rauru answered, reaching out and touching Zelda's right hand. When he did so, there was a brilliant flash of light and then the Triforce mark appeared on Rauru's hand with all three triangles filled in and glowing. He then looked at Zelda and said, "Come, my queen. There is much to discuss."
Then, the Sages took Zelda with them as they made their way to the Temple of Time in order to begin trying to put Hyrule back together again.
The next few weeks were very busy for Zelda and the Sages. The first thing they had to do was rebuild Hyrule Castle Town, for it had suffered a great deal of damage in the previous civil war. In addition, debris falling from the ships over it that had been sunk in the harbor of Hyrule Castle Island had also inflicted significant damage. While the wood from the ships could be used to fix some of the houses and places of business, some houses and businesses were completely lost. Workers went about their tasks, building houses and places of business in the town as overseers made certain that the construction was up to standard. Soldiers and good Knights of Hyrule also patrolled the town, along with a contingent of soldiers and Knights being stationed along the wall surrounding the town, the young queen and the Sages wanting to make sure that the town was adequately protected. They wanted to be ready for when the soldiers that were loyal to King Nohansen returned to try to take over Hyrule and seek revenge for the death of their king.
Next came the cleanup and trash removal all throughout the rest of the kingdom. The receding of the waters and the fall of the stasis field meant that hundreds of ships had fallen from the sky and crashed onto the ground, many of them shattering upon impact. Needless to say, there was a great mess inside Hyrule Field as well as in several small villages that had once dotted the field. More importantly, there was the burial of the crews of the ships, as well as the removal of the metal ships, since they could become hideouts for bandits and brigands. Countless workers went about the task of removing the garbage, burying the dead, even giving them funerals despite the war crimes that many of them had taken part in, as well as salvaging the villages that were still salvageable.
Finally, and possibly the most important item on the agenda, was the defense of Hyrule. There had already been few soldiers left in the rebellion after the war had ended. Now that Hyrule's home military was destroyed, these soldiers were all that was left to defend the nation. Indeed, reports were already coming in that the remnants of the military that were loyal to King Nohansen, had already heard of his death and were returning from the Mushroom Kingdom to try to avenge the fall of their king. The only piece of good news was the fact that they were returning piecemeal, in taskforces of five or six ships at most, rather than returning under a unified banner. It was relatively easy for the defenses on shore to take down the ships that were attempting to return. But that would not last. Eventually, they would unite under a noble, or be forced to join said noble, and he or she would launch an all out assault on Hyrule, eager to try to take the throne from the girl and the Sages.
Zelda had already put out the call for every able-bodied male to train in arms and join the military or a defense militia but it would be very difficult. While she did have the Sages backing her up, it would still be a difficult battle, and that was before dealing with any other external threats to the kingdom. The Koopa Kingdom was still out there, and if Bowser the Great was half as powerful as rumors indicated, he would be a dangerous enemy and it would only be a matter of time before he set his sights on Hyrule. But first thing was first: dealing with the surviving nobles that King Nohansen had taken with him to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Zelda had begun by gathering all of the remaining missile ships and other seaworthy ships that were battle ready and crewing them with volunteers, both in the form of sailors and marines. Their mission would be to try and hold the line against the hundreds of ships that would likely be returning to Hyrule. Next up was to reinforce the defense lines on the new shore of Hyrule. Zelda's ability to warp materiel and items from one location to another was instrumental in allowing them to form defensive lines along the shore and making Hyrule a difficult target to attack from the ocean. However, the coastline was long, and there were relatively few cannons, so there would still be places where troops could land and attempt to move in towards Hyrule.
In order to try to counter that potential strategy, Zelda had as many rebels that knew how to operate either motorboats or tanks as possible use what remained of the tanks of Hyrule and have them supplement the forces on the shores, as well as be positioned to run interdiction on the ground forces that managed to land and get past the first line of defenses. They, of course, would be escorted by infantry soldiers to make sure that other infantry would not outmaneuver them or even destroy said tanks with explosive weapons.
Finally, Zelda decreed that each village and people start maintaining their own defense forces. This was the one rule that met with the greatest amount of opposition. Some villages that were aligned with the rebels did not want other villages that had flourished under the rule of King Nohansen to be able to form their own defense forces since that would potentially allow for militias and resistance forces loyal to the nobles to attack Hyrule's forces that were loyal to Zelda and the Sages. Both Zelda and the Sages knew the risk, but they suspected that it would be better to allow these militias and defense forces to form and fight with the main forces of Hyrule since, without them, they would likely be greatly outnumbered by the military forces that were coming back to likely try to claim the throne and the defenses on the shores would only go so far in slowing down any advance.
Still, as she sat at her desk and Rauru was checking her work as well as reading up on some reports, himself, she could not help but think that the worst was behind her. The Sages had been restored, the Dark Sages were dead, and despite the number of troops that were coming to assault Hyrule to avenge King Nohansen's loss, they had few magicians, and those that they did have would be overwhelmed by the Sages' powers as well as the magicians that were loyal to the rebels and the true ideals of Hyrule. Hyrule had turned a corner and, while there were still difficult times ahead, if they stayed the course, the kingdom would eventually return to its full former glory.
As she went to rise, she left the stockade where she was being tutored by Rauru and headed outside and get a breath of fresh air. When she did so, she looked up and examined the wall that had been erected around Hyrule Castle Town. Soldiers now lined the top of wall, as did cannons and rocket launchers. She gave a relaxed smile as she examined the troops and weaponry stationed there. She hoped that all of the precautions that were being taken would be enough to weather the storm that was coming. Still, she had faith that they would hold against the darkness.
Just as she turned to head back inside to continue her studies, she heard a voice cry out from behind her. "Excuse me miss, can you help me?"
She turned around at the sound of the voice, at first wondering why a boy would refer to her as 'miss' when she realized that she was merely wearing a white tunic with blue pants and, thus, would not be recognized as royalty, much less as the young Queen of Hyrule. When she turned, she saw that the voice belonged to a ten year old boy with short blonde hair and blue eyes. Her eyes went wide with shock as she saw that the boy wore a green tunic with a green floppy hat and white leggings or pants, she could not tell since the tunic covered part of the boy's legs. He looked just like a ten year old Link. It took her an extra second to register that he had asked her a question.
"Sorry, may I ask your name?"
"Link," the boy answered.
"Oh, are you by any chance related to a boy who passed away ten years ago?"
"Some have said that I was. I'm from Faron Province," the boy volunteered.
"Sorry, where are my manners?" Zelda answered. "You asked me something before. What was it?"
"I was wondering if you knew where I could go to sign up for helping defend Hyrule from the corrupt nobles?" Link answered.
"Aren't you a little young to join the military?" Zelda asked, taking measure of the boy's stature.
"Well you're in the Castle Town," came the Young Link's answer.
"That's because I happen to be the queen," Zelda answered. "I'm Zelda."
"The Zelda?" Young Link asked, his eyes going wide with wonder.
Zelda gave a friendly nod.
"That's great! You're just the person I wanted to see!" Young Link exclaimed. "I'd like to join the fight."
Zelda looked at him skeptically, hardly believing that a boy would want to fight in a war, even if he did look just like a Young Link. "There hasn't been a fight yet," she answered. "Besides, you're too young to join the military. You have to be sixteen to join officially."
Young Link frowned in disappointment. "Well, could I join unofficially?"
Zelda faced him, a melancholy look crossing her face. "You do know that the last hero your age with your name that fought against an evil force died, right? That Link was a close friend of mine. I don't want that to be your fate, too."
"But don't you need all the help you can get?" Young Link asked. "Let me fight, if not as part of the military, than unofficially as your friend and a friend of the Sages!" he insisted.
Zelda considered what she should do. She took stock of the boy and looked at him straight in the eyes. She could see his courage and his determination. She then smiled. "You'll have to bring your own equipment."
Young Link produced a single-handed sword that looked to have some gold patches on it. Zelda instantly recognized it as the Gilded Sword that her Link had used before gaining the Master Sword. He also showed a metal shield that looked like a Hylian Shield sized for a child. "I've also got a bow and arrow and a Hookshot."
All Zelda could do was give a friendly smile. "You really want to join the fight, huh?" she began.
Young Link nodded eagerly.
"Come with me," Zelda said, motioning for him to follow her. "If you're gonna join the fight, there's someone you should meet."
She then proceeded to take him inside the stockade building to introduce him to Rauru. There was much that they needed to discuss, and much that the new hero needed to learn if he was to be at his best for the upcoming fight.
