Chapter Thirty-Five: The Battle of the Ages
Fifteen minutes after Kaepora Gaebora had created the portal that would transport Ganondorf into the future if all went well, Link was in front of the trapdoor that led to the roof of Hyrule Castle's tallest tower. "This is it Navi. Are you ready?"
"I'm ready. Are you?"
Link nodded. "Yes. It's now or never." He unsheathed the Master Sword, opened the trapdoor, and passed through it. The first thing he saw was the King of Hyrule lying dead only feet away. Behind him, Ganondorf stood with Majora's Mask grasped firmly in his palms.
The King of Evil had not seen the Hero of Time yet. He muttered to himself, "Now, why would my father give me this? What good does it do me?" He stood quietly for a moment more, gazing thoughtfully at the mask. "I have no use for this." He tossed the mask like a boomerang off the roof behind him and looked up. As the mask clattered onto the roof of the castle far below, the King of Evil first noticed his greatest enemy. "Well, well, well. Look who has decided to grace me with his presence."
"Your attack is done Ganondorf. Your army is destroyed and you will be vanquished soon."
"Have you already forgotten what I told you boy? You cannot defeat me. You are worthless without the Triforce of Courage. There is no hope for you. And after I kill you, I will find my sister and we will conquer Hyrule with my Triforce of Power and her Twilight. Your kingdom does not stand a chance. Now, the real question is, are you finally ready to die boy?" The King of Evil closed his eyes as storm clouds drew around the tower from the west. Not long after, the sun was blocked off entirely and Link found himself cloaked in darkness. He could hardly see anything except for his enemy's glowing red eyes.
Despite the lack of visibility, Link charged Ganondorf without hesitation. He knew that all he had to do was knock the King of Evil off the tower to be victorious. He was surprised that he was actually able to strike his foe. With his shield before him, Link hit Ganondorf at a full sprint. His enemy staggered back a few feet to the edge of the roof, but he did not fall. The Gerudo quickly recovered. He grabbed the Hero of Time and threw him backward. He fell fifteen feet away at the edge of the flat roof. He groaned in pain as he stood. He could feel a painful bruise throbbing in his knee.
Ganondorf guffawed and asked, "What was that? You didn't even try to strike me with the Master Sword. Did you think you could match me in brute strength?" The Gerudo king strutted up to Link and grabbed him just as he reached his feet. He grabbed him by his blonde hair at the back of his head and pulled his head back, exposing his throat. The Hero of Time kicked his feet wildly into Ganondorf's shins, but his adversary was seemingly immune to the pain. The King of Thieves pulled his massive clenched fist back and brought it smashing down into Link's face repeatedly. Navi, in an attempt to help her friend as she had in his battle with Astralose, flew towards Ganondorf's ear. She only got halfway there though before she was spotted. The Gerudo backhanded the fairy and sent her spiraling into the air until she disappeared into the dark clouds that surrounded them all.
This was enough of a diversion though for the young Hero of Time. He lifted his iron shield and thrust it towards his enemy's face. The shield's thinnest edge crashed into Ganondorf's smirking mouth. The King of Evil cried out and dropped his foe as three teeth and a mass of green blood gushed forth from his mouth. He cursed Link in every language that he knew and reached for him in an attempt to finish him off. However, Link had darted through his legs. Standing behind his enemy, the Hero of Time smacked him in the back with his shield. Ganondorf stumbled forward as Link hit him repeatedly with the Hero's Shield. Before the King of Evil could recover his balance, he had staggered over the edge of the tower.
The Hero of Time had one second of celebration before he saw that the Gerudo had managed to catch the lip of the tower with his powerful hands. Link tried to stomp his enemy's hands to force him to let go of his hold on the roof, but Ganondorf lifted one hand and thrust it in his adversary's direction. Link felt an invisible force strike him in the chest and found himself spiraling backwards into the air. He landed at the other end of the tower and by the time he was able to stand up, the King of Evil had pulled himself back up onto the roof.
Ganondorf lifted his hands into the air. Flashes of vibrantly colored lights flared in the clouds above. A moment later, these lights began to rush downward as rainbow-colored lightning bolts. All of them were aimed at the Hero of Time. Link was forced to roll around in circles to dodge the rapid lightning attacks. Each time one of the bolts struck the roof of the tower, the entire castle shook violently. After the first bolt struck, every window in the castle shattered simultaneously with a deafening clamor.
Tiles began to break free from the roof and jump tens of feet into the air. Link soon found himself running around the tower in circles with hard, stone tiles raining down on him. He was able to dodge Ganondorf's lightning attacks successfully until he stumbled over a crack in the roof where numerous tiles had recently broken away. He fell to his knees and was unable to get up before he felt a surge of electricity flash through his body.
It felt like his entire body was on fire for countless seconds. His skin flashed red, yellow, and eventually blue before the lightning ran its course. The heat eventually dissipated and he found himself lying in a crumpled pile, barely even able to twitch a finger. The King of Evil strode over to him and rolled him over with his boot. He unsheathed his massive, six-foot long blade and lifted it over his head, ready to finish off his nemesis. However, Link was not yet ready to give up. Just as Ganondorf's sword came crashing down, the Hero of Time was able to roll partially out of the way. The Gerudo's bloodstained weapon glanced off the Master Sword and smashed into the roof of the tower. The roof—already weakened by the King of Evil's relentless lightning bolts—caved in from the brute force of this attack. Next thing Ganondorf and Link knew, they were crashing down into the room below amid a pile of rubble.
Fortunately, the Hero of Time was not injured during the fall. He dusted himself off and looked around the storage room into which they had fallen. All he could see was a pile of tiles and marble stone. The Gerudo king was nowhere to be seen. However, Link could hear a deep rumbling noise. Not long after the noise began, the King of Evil flew up from under the rubble only feet away, sending chunks of rock flying into the walls of the chamber. Ganondorf was panting heavily and his eyes glowed like blazing coals. As he floated in the air,—his black cape billowing behind him even without any wind—he lifted his hand and his sword flew out from underneath the debris to his hand.
The King of Thieves glided over to Link rapidly and swung his sword with both hands. The Hero of Time ducked under the blow and Ganondorf's attack crashed into the wall of the room, caving in the wall and bringing more of the ceiling above crashing down on top of him. He shrugged off the bits of stone and looked up. The entire roof of the tower had now fallen into the storage room. The black clouds above swirled noticeably. The former storeroom's floor was entirely covered with debris. The chamber now had only three walls. The wall next to Ganondorf had fallen and there was now nothing to prevent him from falling out of the room and into Kaepora Gaebora's portal if Link could knock him backward.
Having jarred his entire arm painfully after striking the wall, the King of Evil had to wait a moment before he could strike his enemy again. The Hero of Time took this opportunity to pick up a huge chunk of marble off the ground. He threw it at his nemesis as hard as he could. Ganondorf was not paying attention and the mass of rock crashed into the side of his head. He lost his floating ability and fell to the floor below, where he landed on the former King of Hyrule's dead body. He dropped his weapon and it clattered out of the room and down the exterior of the tower. Ganondorf roared as he felt the side of his head and noticed a patch of sticky blood. "One lucky blow will not lead you to victory," he declared confidently.
"No, but this will," declared Link. He rushed the King of Evil, but instead of attacking him, he rolled over the King's corpse that most of Ganondorf's weight was on. Next thing the Gerudo knew, he had rolled out of the room and was falling alongside the outside of the tower with what had been the King of Hyrule accompanying him.
"Do you think one little fall can kill me?!" yelled Ganondorf up to his enemy as he plunged downward. "I'll be back up there in no time to finish you off." However, the King of Evil was not aware of Kaepora Gaebora's time portal. Link was able to make it to the edge of the room just in time to watch his adversary disappear in a flash of light. His roar was cut short, as he was instantly teleported thirty years into the future. Link sat down tiredly as he sheathed the Master Sword. "It is done," he declared.