A/n: This chapter has been revised.
Disclaimer: Tea.
Chapter 36: Medallion of Shadow Part 3
The party's somewhat creepy but otherwise peaceful trip on the boat came to an end when a Stalfos dropped from the ceiling. The battle between it and Link was short, though, but as soon as the battle ended the boat began rocking violently. It took seconds for a few people in the party to realize the ship was beginning to sink.
"Jump off the boat!" Kurama grabbed Kaori and tossed her on the closest platform before grabbing Aya and hopping off himself. Link, sword and shield still out from the battle with the Stalfos, leapt off the boat and barely avoided falling into the foggy abyss by grabbing the ledge of the platform. Katara and Joey fared better, having linked hands during their jump.
"Come here, Bud." Joey bent over, grabbing Link's wrist and pulling him up.
"That was just mean." Link said, standing up and brushing himself off. He turned to inspect the rest of the group while sheathing his weapons.
"Ow." Kaori stood up. "Thanks for the save, Kurama."
"Sorry I couldn't be more gentlemanly about it." Kurama smiled apologetically. "I didn't want to risk you trying to jump off and missing. There was a chance you wouldn't be able to grab onto the ledge with your arm paralyzed."
"No, you're fine." Kaori smiled back before Link was right next to her, making sure she was okay. A few quick smiles between the two let Link know everything was fine.
"Well, that was an experience." Aya crossed her arms. The party put themselves back together and ended up in a room that seemed like a dead end. The only thing they noticed were both walls seemed to be covered in wooden spikes.
"What is up with this room?" Katara looked around. "There's nothing in here."
"The walls are closing in." Kurama said bluntly. Despite the urgency, Kurama didn't seem that concerned by it. "Nothing we need to concern ourselves with. The spikes are wooden."
"And fire burns wood." Joey's eyes glinted happily, ready to take the spotlight again. "Din's Fire, here we go again." The group stood closer to Joey to avoid getting hit with collateral fire. Taking notice of where everyone was standing, Joey clapped his hands together and then smashed them into the ground, sending up a huge wave of fire in every direction. The fire incinerated the wooden spikes and destroyed the door, too, setting it on fire and forcing Katara to put the flames out. With the spikes destroyed, it was clear that the spikes were only hiding a fancy chest with a ReDead guarding it.
"Cool." Joey didn't seem fazed and set the ReDead on fire, killing it. Link went over to the chest and cheerfully pulled out its contents- the Boss Key.
"I think this means we're getting closer to the end." Aya rubbed the back of her head. "At least, I hope that's what this means."
"The boss key is usually a good sign." Kurama started walking back over to where the door used to be.
"That was cool and all, but aren't we stranded now?" Aya looked around. The platforms over there look like they have the way forward but they are way too far away for us to get to."
"The Lens of Truth yields nothing." Kurama put the device away after a minute. "We'll have to get creative." The platform the party had jumped onto to avoid sinking had no way forward. It was just a simple white, stone platform. Relatively far away, too far for Kurama or the hover boots or the longshot, was a door, a few pots, and large pillar with the statue of a bird on top, surrounded by bomb flowers.
"That pillar is really big." Katara tapped her chin. "I wonder if we could find a way to use it as a bridge across. It looks big enough."
"My thoughts exactly." Kurama shrugged. "We just have to ignite the bomb flowers around it. That's where Link and Joey come in."
"Link and Joey do what?" Link turned to the redhead.
"Joey and Link what?" Joey turned as well.
"Link uses the bow to shoot the bomb flowers in the center with an arrow Joey sets on fire." Kurama shrugged. "It seems reasonable to me."
"I've never set an arrow on fire." Joey blinked. "I like the idea. Fire Arrows. Come on, Bud. Let's try it out."
"Yeah!" Link aimed his arrow and in a flash of red light, the fire arrow streaked across the gap and pierced its target. As predicted, the bombs all exploded in succession, sending the incredibly large statue toppling over. It created a bridge, the sharp beak of the statue piercing the ground in front of them and holding the bridge in place.
"Okay, guys." Joey jumped up and started helping everyone else up onto their new bridge. "If Navi were conscious right now, her advice would be to not to fall and die. So, don't fall and die."
"I'll try not to but I'm not having good luck so far." Kaori said as she carefully started across the bridge.
"I'll keep you from falling." Link waved his hands.
"Yeah, I think a hellish demon pit really is beyond this fog. It wouldn't be surprising given how creepy this temple has been." Aya held her arms out to balance herself. "Not to sound like I'm disrespecting the Sheikah or anything."
"I'm sure there is a reason for why this place is so creepy." Katara offered. "I'm not sure what this place was created to worship."
"Well, the other temples were built to worship the spirits of those various elements. I guess the Sheikah built this place to worship the spirits of Shadow." Kurama said.
"I was wondering, too." Link turned to the party, the look on his face glossed over in deep thought. "Why don't we have a Spirit of Shadow? Or a Spirit of….Spirit."
"The element of the last temple is the Spirit Temple, right? I remember Navi telling us one night before we went to bed." Joey turned.
"I doubt that the Spirits were made to use the same powers the Sages were capable of using." Kurama explained. "I'm not sure why our elements don't match up. It seems the 'elements' of the Sages are more of a combination of multiple elements than it is anything else. We're lesser on the divine food chain, so our elements are just components of what the Sages rule over. That's just my theory, though."
"Oh, so like, the Sages hold power to guard over everything and we're only using small parts of it." Katara thought over the information in her head. "I guess that makes sense."
"And why don't we have to explore the Light Temple?" Link turned.
"The Light Temple wasn't cursed." Kurama turned to Link. "As fun as it certainly would have been, there was no need because Rauru had managed to protect it. That's where the Chamber of Sages is, right?"
"I guess that make sense." Link had his hand to his chin in thought. "I was just wondering. I still don't really get all of this, though."
"If we break it down to levels, it makes some sense, I think." Kurama continued to explain. "First, there are the Goddesses, who made the Triforce. Then the Sages were created to protect the Triforce and Hyrule and given powers over the various components that made up Hyrule to aid in that endeavor. Then the Master Sword was created to be a key to the Sacred Realm and a divine method by which any evil that threatened the Sacred Realm or Hyrule could be vanquished. Then the Hero of Time was created to wield that weapon so its vast powers could never be wrongfully used. Then the Spirits were created, given direct powers to control individual elements to so they could guard the door to the Sacred Realm and ensure the Hero of Time stayed alive and accomplished his goal."
"And the elements the Sages have guardianship over differ from the Spirits because their powers are less direct control of individual elements and more control over components of life and functionality, right?" Katara asked Kurama, who nodded.
"And because they guard over larger components of the world then what we can do, their powers over the elements far exceeds anything we can comprehend." Aya finished. "Because they are essentially divine beings and we're just lucky that we've made buddies with most of them so far."
"Sooo." Link looked like he was deep in thought. "The Goddesses made the Sages and the Hero of Time and the Spirits, and the Sages created the Master Sword and somehow…all of this is connected together in this big loopy cycle thing that makes up Hyrule."
"Essentially, yes." Kurama shrugged his shoulders.
"I like how we take these unexciting sections of the temples to have existential talks about life and duty." Aya stated sarcastically.
"Do we really have any other time to have these discussions?" Joey turned. "Most of our time has been taken up exploring these temples."
"The boss door is over there." Kurama pointed casually. Across a seemingly impossible gap to cross on another ledge was the door to the boss room.
"That's too far for hover boots or Kurama. Or anything." Aya turned. "And no bird pillar to blow up. Lens of Truth?"
"Lens of Truth." Kurama pulled it out, pulling back an enthusiastic Link while doing so. "There's a long, winding path over to that door. It's dangerous. I guess just follow me and keep Link from falling off."
"I will give myself the job of keeping Link from falling." Joey lifted a hand. Carefully, Kurama began leading the group along a thin, winding path. Everyone was in a single file line, hand attached to the person in front of them somehow.
"It would suck to make it this far in saving Hyrule only to plummet to our deaths right here." Aya said, hand gripping the back of Kurama's jacket. She felt Kaori gripping her hand behind her.
"Don't say that." Kaori squeaked as they walked.
"This is actually kind of hilarious in a pathetic kind of way." Joey smirked as they scooted along. "Ganondorf would get a good laugh out of seeing the heroes of Hyrule like this."
"Let's be thankful there is no Ganondorf around to see us in our vulnerable state." Kurama stated, sarcasm apparent as they reached the end of the path. Link and Joey removed the chains from the door and they went inside, finding the only way to continue was to fall down a hole and onto a large platform floating in a green, acid-like substance.
"I don't want to know what that crap is." Joey took a few steps inward.
"Watch out!" a stern voice called out. Immediately, the party all dodged the huge, disembodied hand of a monster slamming down on the platform, sending everyone into the air and back onto the ground clumsily. In a graceful series of backflips, a tall woman landed in front of the party. She turned on her heel, changing her grip on the curved blade her hand and wiping away a small amount of blood from her forehead with her other hand. Even in the dim light of the boss arena, it was clear who it was.
"Impa!" the party called out in unison.
"I never once doubted the princess when she said you all would return one day." Impa smiled softly. She was covered in a few cuts, but it seemed like she had been faring pretty well on her own until now. "It was a long wait, but I hope it was worth it."
"Impa, we're glad to see you." Joey lifted a hand, forming his sword. "What do we do?"
"Yes. Let's catch up later." Impa stepped back. "This thing is annoying to fight without the Lens of Truth. But I see you all have that."
"That eye." Kurama was looking through the lens. "We need to dispose of that eye."
"Where?" Link turned.
"Shoot where I point and when I say." Kurama stepped back a few steps. Kaori opted to fall back, unable to fight herself.
"Katara, you keep Kaori safe!" Link turned. "What do I need?"
"Your bow." Kurama instructed.
"Right. We'll work as a team." Impa pulled out a couple of knives, throwing one at one of the massive hands before dodging an attack and throwing the other to stun it. Based on the creature's large hands, which were a disgusting brown color with yellow fingernails, the creature was certainly grotesque. Based on what Kurama could see through the lens, it was a large and seemed almost like an animated corpse, except for the large, piercing red eye that sat where its neck was supposed to be. Open flaps of bloody skin were blossoming around the eye. Everything about the creature seemed wrong.
"Link, now! Right there!" Kurama pointed. Link shot the arrow off without question, hitting the creature straight in the eye. For a moment, the creature plopped to the ground and was stunned, becoming visible to everyone. Without a word, Impa ran forward with Joey and began slashing at the creature, aided by a huge blast of light from Aya, which the creature hissed at.
"Excellent." Impa jumped back. "This will be a lot easier with all of us. All I've been able to do is distract it up until now."
"We tried to get here as fast as we could." Link started aiming his bow again. He shot one of the hands and Katara shot a needle of ice at the other to stun the other hand. Following Kurama's guidance, Link shot off another wave of arrows, striking the creature in the eye again. Impa launched on the creature again, with another wave of light energy from Aya's end.
"Don't concern yourselves with how long I've been here. This isn't my first fight with this spirit." Impa readied another knife. "Just focus on what's happening now."
"Right." Link aimed his bow. The creature pounded wildly on the platform, sending everyone flying around again. Impa, Link and Kurama managed to land on their feet, but everyone else clattered to the ground. Katara had the fastest recovery, and teaming her ice magic with some arrows from Link, managed to stun the hands again.
"We shouldn't have much longer." Impa started running forward. "Shoot that eye again!"
'
"Right there! Now, Link!" Kurama pointed.
"Right!" Link shot off his bow again, nailing the creature in the eye. Joey had gotten back to his feet and ran over there to help Impa pound on the creature. Another light spell from Aya kept the creature stunned a little longer; long enough for Impa and Joey to launch a team attack and stab the monster straight through the eye together. The monster let out a loud screech that echoed through the room. It was a loud, continuous wail and the hands began beating the platform repeatedly before beating itself. The eye began exploding in red light, and slowly, the creature slumped over in the acid, dissipating in a black smoke. After a few minutes, its slow death drew to a close, leaving nothing behind, the black smoke having vanished as well.
"Good job shooting your bow without seeing what you were aiming at." Impa turned to Link, sheathing her blade. "An excellent display of teamwork, that was."
"Kurama is the smart one." Link said proudly, putting his bow away. "He's usually right."
"My intelligence had nothing with that battle. I just happened to have on me an item that can see invisible things." Kurama lifted a hand modestly.
"Right. I was right to have confidence in your return. You all have grown in to fine warriors." Impa crossed her arms. "Where is that fairy that was with you five years ago, though?"
"Navi?" Link looked over at Kurama sadly. "She's sick."
"The dark energy of the temple was too much for her." Kurama gestured to the pocket inside his jacket. "She's asleep."
"I figured as much. The dark energy of the shadow spirits is too much for creatures of light." Impa's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Let us continue this conversation in the Chamber of Sages. Freeing her from the dark energy everywhere will help cleanse her system." Impa was beginning to fade away in purple light.
"Okay." Link looked sadly at the portal appearing in the room. Once Impa was gone, the party followed her to the Chamber of Sages, where Impa was waiting for them on her designated platform, her arms crossed.
"There are a lot of things to discuss." Impa looked over the group. "Out of all the Sages you have awakened, I suppose you must have the most questions for me."
"You were the last one we saw with Princess Zelda." Katara nodded.
"Is Zelda okay?" Link asked. "I mean, what happened to her? Were we supposed to be looking for her?"
"No, your primary goal was to awaken the Sages." Impa shook her head. "I can't give you a specific on where Zelda is or what she is currently doing. I can tell you, however, that she is safe and sound and waiting for you all. Once you awaken the Sages, I'm sure you'll be able to see her finally."
"So, Zelda is safe." Link took a deep breath.
"I thought she was a goner, what with Ganondorf chasing after her." Aya said.
"Yes, and Ganondorf is still after her." Impa's voice was serious. "That's why she hasn't been able to come out of hiding, yet. Not until the time is right."
"Zelda never lost faith in us?" Joey asked. "I mean, what if we never came back?"
"No, she never lost faith in your return." Impa smiled. "She said that you all never coming back was out of the question. She always knew that you would come back."
"Good. She had faith in us. I bet she talks to Captain Teapot." Link seemed content.
"Captain Teapot?" Impa's mouth curved up in an amused smile.
"Yeah. Holy Warrior of the divine Commander Pie." Link lifted a finger, explaining as if what he was saying was common knowledge.
"You have a creative mind, much like the boundless imagination the princess possessed. She always came up with wild stories to entertain herself on slow days." Impa laughed a bit. "It's like you two are twins, sometimes. Her crazy imagination is why the king didn't believe her when she told him Ganondorf was up to no good."
"I figured she was a little out of it when her royal letter to get us to Death Mountain was so stupid." Aya rolled her eyes. "I loved having that guard laugh in our faces."
"Regardless." Impa started to transition the conversation. "One of you was bitten by a Gibdo. Its bites are poisonous."
"Is that what the mummy thing was?" Kaori asked, looking up at Impa.
"Yes. You're bite doesn't appear to be serious. Had the Gibdo been latched onto you longer, more of its venom would have spread." Impa studied her arm. "Lucky for you, there is a remedy for Gibdo bites."
"Really?" Kaori asked eagerly. "How can I fix this?"
"There is a potion shop in Kakariko and the owner of the shop is a young guy named Marius." Impa explained. "He owes me a few favors. I helped him get back on his feet after he migrated from the castle down when it was destroyed. He lost everything then. If you tell him I sent you, he'll help you, certainly without charge. Marius will be able to whip up a remedy for you."
"Okay. Potion shop. Marius." Kaori made a checklist in her head.
"You all have had a long journey so far, and plenty more to deal with ahead of you." Impa's voice became serious. "You must never give up. The princess has waited for five long years for your return. But I have faith you guys, as well." Impa put her hands in front of her and created a purple medallion, which she tossed over to Link, gently.
"Pretty." Link held it up to the light.
"Thanks, Impa." Katara lifted a hand.
"You all will have many more tests, but I'm sure you will pass them all with ease." Impa smiled. "I only regret we were not able to become better friends before my time came to be a Sage. I can only assist you from this realm now. Please, find Princess Zelda and protect her for me. She means the world to me."
"Of course!" Link looked up, almost surprise the request needed to be made. "She's our friend. We'll find her."
"Thank you." Impa shut her eyes contentedly. The party began to fade away into light again and Impa faded out of sight. They were only able to make out one last sentence from her before they were tossed back to the real world. "Please, do your best. The princess is counting on you."
"Ow." Joey rubbed the back of his head once the party regained their vision. They were on the platform overlooking the graveyard that they had been taken to with the Nocturne of Shadow.
"Let's get out of the graveyard." Kurama climbed onto the fence surrounding the platform. "The farther we get Navi away from the Shadow Temple, the better off she'll be."
"Right." Link hopped up to the fence as well. The drop wasn't that bad, and the party hopped off and ran through the winding paths crossing through rows and rows of graves. Once they passed the entrance to the graveyard, they ran all the way to the entrance the village, settling on the staircase outside. Carefully, Kurama pulled their fairy guide out of his pocket and handed him to Link.
"Navi." Link looked down sadly at the sleeping fairy, cradling her gently. "Maybe she's like a flower and needs the sun."
"I hope she's like a flower and needs the sun." Aya sat down, brushing her skirt out. "It's hard to keep the sarcasm quotient up when she's not around."
"And it's hard to know when a monster is poisonous." Joey joked a bit.
"I guess we'll just sit here and wait." Kurama leaned back.
"I want to fix my arm, but I'm more concerned about Navi." Kaori straightened her legs out while she sat.
"I'll wait for as long as it takes for her to wake up." Link said in a determined voice. "She's so patient with me. I owe her." Link took his hat off with one hand and bunched it up in his lap before setting her down gently. He smiled a bit as Navi, still asleep, responded and curled up in a tiny ball in her new bed. Looking up at the sky, the party decided that morning had just come. They pulled together something to eat while they waited and casually chatted as the next few hours passed. None of them moved, too anxious to do anything. While the party had insisted Kaori go to the potion shop to get her arm fixed, she refused to go until she knew Navi was going to be okay.
"Oh, damn it all."
Navi's voice was squeaky, squeakier than she liked it to sound and she practically choked out the last syllable of that sentence. It took her a minute to regain her senses, but as soon as she was able to understand things again, she realized she was on Link's lap, covered up in his hat. And the sun was shining above them. While she had heard noises before she had opened her eyes and talked, there was a dead silence now except for the sounds of birds and insects in the distance or the occasional breeze passing by. Navi uncurled herself from Link's blanket and popped out to step completely into the sunlight. She was greeted with the bright, beaming smile of her assigned partner.
"Navi!" Link's eyes were practically watering. He plucked the fairy up gently and began inspecting her more closely. Navi's light was as bright as it was before, her wings fluttering behind her like she was exercising them after a long period of disuse. She lifted her tiny arms and yawned, but was interrupted by Link gently smooshing his face against her.
"What the…hey!" Navi squeaked out again, ready to let out a stream of curses to protest to gesture. When she felt something sort of wet, and realized Link was crying, she stopped resisting. And, to everyone else's surprise, she slowly returned the hug. "Hey, captain. You're not supposed to cry. Heroes don't cry."
"I don't care. I've cried plenty already." Link sniffed, pulling away from Navi. Navi flapped her wings a couple of times for good measure before lifting off out of Link's hands and back into the air. She flew a few small circles around his head.
"Well, good point. You were a blubbery mess when we found Kurama and Aya alive. And you cried when Mido cried in the Forest Temple. I saw the tears." Navi counted off on her hand. "And I think you cried a little to yourself after that jerkass Deku Tree Sprout told us all that crappy information."
"I was worried about you." Link looked down. "I'm tired of almost losing everyone. You shouldn't have come with us into the Shadow Temple or the Well."
"I'll agree with you on that. That was supremely stupid of me." Navi agreed, crossing her arms. "And next time we enter a situation like that, I will take more precautions. But we can't change that now. I'm fine. I was right. You all were able to save me. It's fine."
"Navi." Link sniffed again. "I want to find a way to save Hyrule without having to lose anyone else. I don't want to lose you all. Losing the Sages has been bad enough. Please help me find a way to not lose you all. I've come too close to losing you all already."
"Link." For once, Navi's voice was almost motherly. There was no trace of her usual sarcasm and she floated over to Links face and put a tiny hand on his cheek. "Link, I want to find a way to do this without losing you all, too. And if anyone can find a way to work against the system, it's you guys. I've been on board with your insanity this long. I can stick around awhile longer."
"Navi!" Link took her in his hands again and blubbered like a little baby for a few minutes. A consoling hand from Kaori on his arm joined him while he cried, while there was the brotherly pat on the back from Joey.
"Okay!" Link sniffed loudly, wiping away tears with his palms. "You're back."
"So, you guys didn't finish the temple without incident." Navi shifted back into her dry tone of voice. "You got Kaori poisoned. Gibdo bite. I knew those little bastards were going to be in there. Gibdos and ReDeads crawl around those dark places like ants."
"Impa said it's just my arm and the bite isn't that bad. And that the guy at the potion shop can fix it." Kaori explained sheepishly.
"Yeah, it's fixable, but only a guy licensed to mix potions can make it." Navi floated up. "Let's fix you before we do anymore celebrating. At least it's just your arm. I was afraid I was going to wake and find someone else had nearly died. And we need to get healing fairies for you all. You guys look like hell."
"You're back to being Momma Navi." Katara teased, helping Kaori up.
"Someone has to do it." Navi crossed her arms. "Let's go deal with that now. I can't see the Gibdo poison causing any lasting damage, but it's not good to keep her arm like that forever. You guys can fill me in on everything else later."
"Agreed." Kurama turned back towards the village. "Let's get this out of the way, first." With that, the party walked towards the potion shop, all content that their fairy guide was back in action.
A/n: Not a lot changed here. I included some more conversation, gave Impa some more meaningful lines of dialogue, had the group explain better what the Sage/Spirit thing is, and made Navi waking up a more emotional experience for everyone. It made sense for Link to be emotional, since Navi is so important to him. And despite her grumpiness, Link is important to her, too. Navi is like the group's mom.