Chapter 53: An unexpected turn of events
Link and the Seven Sages were immediately on full alert, seeing Ganondorf standing there, his arms crossed, a scowl on his face instead of a more devilish grin. Behind them, the doorway to the staircase leading to the rooms below closed and sealed up, effectively trapping the entire group on top of the tower by itself. The group didn't pay attention to this, their focus being mostly set to the nemesis in front of them, who stared them down in a form of almost unnatural calmness that hid the anger, despite the expression showing that he was, suffice it to say, none too pleased with seeing the group.
"Insolent pests," Ganondorf said, sighing in annoyance, "it angers me that you have been able to get here so swiftly. Nonetheless, I must commend you for being able to get this far; no mere mortal has ever scaled this tower and lived to tell… if they didn't end up being caught and brainwashed or imprisoned that is…"
"Hmph. That's so like you to show no remorse…" Zelda said.
"The only thing I'm sorry for is that I didn't kill you sooner; you've been working against me ever since you found me out. But no matter; this saves me the trouble of going after you instead, so now I'll take your powers by force." He said.
"Think again, Ganondorf; you won't get us again like last time." Link said.
"Getting bold, are we?" Ganondorf asked.
"You bet; unlike you, we've been working hard to get here." Saria said.
"That I can see. Too bad it's all for naught…" Another voice said, just as a floating mask appeared from behind Ganondorf.
"Majora… I almost thought you weren't here." Link said smugly.
"You certainly have become quite cheeky with such an attitude…" Majora said.
"If I had a rupee each time I heard that…"
"Oh, that's it. When you die here, your corpse will be displayed on a spot for everyone to see as a sign of what will happen when you defy us!" Majora said.
"Like that will ever happen." Ruto said.
"Do you have any idea whom you're dealing with?" Ganondorf asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Of course we do, two arrogant pricks who enjoy seeing innocent people suffer." Zelda said.
"That does it, have at you!" Majora said, charging up his fiery eye laser attack and fired it towards Zelda… only for the princess to bring out her Mirror Shield and deflect the attack towards Ganondorf, striking him head on.
Ganondorf grunted as he was hit, preparing his electric sphere and fired it towards the princess, only for Link to intercept the attack, striking it with his sword, sending it towards Majora who received a hit on his turn as well, being zapped by the electricity from the attack.
"YEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH! CURSE YOU ALL!" Majora howled as it recovered from the attack as tendrils appeared from its back, only for Link to suddenly leap at it and struck it with a jump strike.
"SHUT UP!" Link snarled at the deadly mask.
"Enough of this, time to meet your doom!" Ganondorf said as he began to float in place.
With that, the Final Battle for Hyrule and Termina began. The Sages first split up in two groups, with Rauru, Darunia, Impa and Nabooru moving to engage Ganondorf in combat, while Zelda, Saria and Ruto came to Link's aid while he fought against Majora. Given the enormous strength of both foes, the heroes decided to attack in numbers on their turn, knowing that using co-operation would continuously put pressure on the enemies, giving them little to no chance to charge up a potentially dangerous attack. Link decided to keep the Purified Fierce Deity Mask aside for the time being, intending to use it as a last resort due to the massive power it contained by itself and by extension give Ganondorf and Majora an even harder time as soon as the right time to use it was at hand. But for now, it seemed as if the battle was even. In the air, the sky was getting darker as the dark clouds kept bellowing around the top, almost making it pitch black, although briefly illuminated by the lightning strikes that appeared at regular intervals within the clouds. This all perfectly added to the atmosphere of the arena itself, with in the far distance the sky being an eerie beige/yellow, while the black clouds themselves were almost like a static disk circling around the whole parameter of the tower by itself, increasing in layers the closer one would be to the top of the tower.
Zelda struck Majora's Mask with a Silver Light Arrow, sending the deadly creature to the ground, after which Link and Saria engaged it with their Golden Swords, striking relentlessly at it as if both received a good measure of payback for what has been done to them not so long ago, before the Mask used its tendrils to grab the children and zap them with electricity, before tossing them against the rocky edge of the arena. Zelda and Ruto followed up with another Silver Light Arrow, once again stunning the Mask, before Ruto went in and struck the Mask several times, before using her Water Sage abilities to teleport behind Majora, avoiding its tendrils the first time and striking it in the back with her Nice Boomerang, right as Link and Saria recovered and went back in the fray. Using Link's knowledge of Majora itself as a whole, the four children had some form of advantage, even though Majora seemingly had no difficulties taking them all on. This was not just because the four have been active on the battle field for some time, but they were also still children in a way; their small bodies allowed a certain level of agility with them that made them a bit harder to catch, even more when their form of teamwork was that one or two proved a distraction for the others to strike at the Mask, deflecting its own attacks were necessary.
Ganondorf on his turn generated multiple of his electric blasts in rapid succession, but Nabooru and Impa intercepted them, striking the spheres with their blades to swat them aside or towards Ganondorf, where Ganondorf either blocked them or where the spheres he fired collided with the ones headed for him, effectively cancelling them out. This was more done as a diversion as Rauru prepared a larger Light Sphere attack, in lieu of a Light Arrow of his own to stun Ganondorf with as he fired it, scoring a direct hit on the Dark Lord, sending him to the ground. This allowed Darunia to charge at him and deliver a serious pounding to the male Gerudo.
"That one was for Link and this one is for Zelda!" Darunia said, slugging Ganondorf twice in the stomach, like how he hurt Link and Zelda badly back at the ruined Hyrule Castle all those days ago.
Darunia never forgot what happened on that fateful day, seeing Ganondorf ruthlessly slugging first Link in the stomach before draining him of whatever strength he had left and tossing the Master Sword aside as if it was nothing, after which the Evil King unceremoniously kicked Link away from the ruined Hyrule Castle Tower, dooming him to die a slow, painful death back then. Ganondorf then turned his attention to Zelda, whom attacked and hit him the second after Link was sent flying, with Zelda being treated to a similar punch in the stomach before she was blasted away with a magic blast in a similar style to how Link was kicked away. Darunia had silently sworn to himself to avenge his Sworn Brother, even after the resurrection and now he was making good on that oath, although he also knew Impa wanted to take a shot at him as well. Ganondorf grunted as he was slugged in the stomach multiple times by Darunia's Fire Punch Combo, before using a dark explosion wave to throw him off, only for Impa to appear from the shadows and slashed at his face, cutting him on the cheek and the chest area before he knocked the Sheikah woman away, intercepting Nabooru in the process. This moment of reprieve allowed Ganondorf to float up again, now ready to charge a bigger attack. Rauru intervened by blasting him with a powerful Light spell, stunning Ganondorf to make the attack he was charging strike him instead, sending Ganondorf down to the ground, allowing Impa and Nabooru to strike, with Nabooru using her Golden Sword Spark and Impa just slashed away at him, at several points striking the scars of what remained of the wounds that Link and Zelda both inflicted on him before.
Majora however was having a rather hard time against the four children; whenever it was focusing on attacking any one of them, the others were pelting its vulnerable backside with arrows, bringing it down in order for the group to strike at it with force. As they say: Payback is a bitch and she's back in heat! Majora then twirled around like a saw blade, trying to cut the four in half, but its attempts were cut short due to either clashing against their shields, before Link used the Great Spin to stun the mask again, allowing Saria to strike it again as a form of payback on her side once more. After several slashes, Majora grabbed the four children in its tendrils and tossed them towards the far side of the arena, before transforming into Majora's Incarnation, with the thin arms and legs and the single eye on its head, attempting to pelt the group with a rapid-fire onslaught of energy spheres. Link was prepared for this however and went on the defensive, blocking the attacks with his shield, before rolling to the side and striking Majora with an arrow, stunning it. Majora howled as it once more was stunned, allowing the four children to rush in and keep striking it.
Ganondorf on his turn was getting frustrated at the relentless attacks from his four opponents. Having had enough after being pelted with a Light Arrow for the 5th time now, followed by a few strikes of the others nearby, he decided to play their game and remained on the ground level this time around, drawing two blades of his own in order to engage the four adults. In retrospect, he saw the irony in this current stand-off; Majora had been acting like a child despite its crazy behavior and tremendous power through curses and he was now up against four children, while he, the Great Ganondorf, was more mature and held his own against four adults. However he wasn't stupid; he knew that these people were likely able to succeed in thwarting his plans again, although he would be able to put up a decent fight. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Nabooru approaching, preparing to engage him. Deciding to actually fight her, Ganondorf charged, forcing the Gerudo on the defensive as she moved to block and parry every strike he made.
"Such a shame to see such a strong woman fight against one of her own." Ganondorf quipped as he attempted a double cutting swipe with his blades, which Nabooru avoided.
"Shut your face!" Nabooru snarled, jumping up to perform a double spin attack.
Ganondorf grunted as he blocked the strike, trying to strike her in her side, only for Nabooru to flip over him and perform a successful Back Slash technique, hurting him.
"You could have been anything you desired if you only would follow me." Ganondorf said, smacking Nabooru aside with the hilt of the sword in his right hand, before moving to engage her again.
"SHUT UP! I'll NEVER bow down to someone so despicable as you!" Nabooru roared back, being forced on the defensive once more.
"So be it then." Ganondorf said, swinging his blades down to where he almost cut Nabooru's head off, but Nabooru blocked the attack with her own swords, before slashing at the Evil King's body herself with another Dual Spin attack, this time forcing him on the defensive.
Ganondorf eventually managed to kick Nabooru away and attempted to charge at her, only for Darunia to intercept him and clobbered him in the face, stunning him enough for Impa to deal in several strikes with a Shadow Clone. Ganondorf on his turn eventually kicked Impa herself away and cut her Shadow Clone in two, effectively dispelling it before turning his attention to Rauru as he finished preparing another Light Sphere to stun him, avoiding the strike by teleporting beside the old Sage and knocking him to the side, only to be hit in the back by another Back Slash from Nabooru. Grunting, he smacked Nabooru to the side, before dashing at her and thrusting his swords down to the ground, although Nabooru rolled out of the way in time to prevent herself from being impaled onto the arena floor, using the momentum of her roll to get back on her feet and regain her swords she had dropped when Ganondorf struck her. Growling, Ganondorf attempted to attack her again, only to be intercepted by a set of fireballs courtesy of Darunia, the Goron Leader showing he still had a bone to pick with the Evil King for not only first depriving his people from their primary food source, but also imprisoning them in the Fire Temple in the Future That Almost Was, to be fed to the dragon Volvagia as a form of ritual sacrifice, mostly to show to the other races what would happen if they were to oppose Ganondorf's reign. He was grateful Link came to save them, before coming to aid him in slaying the evil dragon.
At the same moment, Majora was now angrier than ever after he was hit several times more by the four children whom clearly weren't impressed by his crazy routine of dancing and prancing. It even went so far as Saria using her vines to intercept Majora to hold him in place so Ruto, Link and Zelda had the time to catch up with him and attack him. Howling to the sky after smacking the four away for the moment, Majora then began to pump up its muscles, transforming into Majora's Wrath as it now towered over the four children and the adults altogether. Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto grueled at the sight of Majora's muscles rapidly swelling, coupled with tendrils growing on its hands which it now used to attack in a whip-like fashion after completing his transformation, managing to strike Link, Saria and Zelda with it before Ruto fired a Silver Light Arrow at it to stun it, the Zora Princess moving in with several strikes of her own before Majora teleported to the far side of the arena and struck Ruto in the same fashion as it did with her friends before. Link however wasn't stupid and pressed on, firing a Silver Light Arrow on his turn that struck Majora in the face, causing the monstrous behemoth to shriek in sheer agony, which in turn began to break parts of the rocky edge apart, sending them floating into the air.
"Curse you all… I hate you… I HATE YOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!" Majora howled as it promptly grabbed Link and Zelda in one tendril and Saria and Ruto in the other, before rearing them up into the air and smashing them on the ground, causing the four to yelp in pain as they landed face-first onto the ground, after which Majora just repeated this brutal move before callously tossing the four to the side, making them land on the ground before striking them to the wall like bowling pins, causing Saria and Ruto to get dazed for a moment.
Now getting pissed himself, Link got up, before pouring energy into his Golden Master Sword.
"The feeling's completely mutual, Majora!" He said, before he felt a hand on his own which held his sword.
Turning to his left, he saw Zelda looking at him. Like Link, she was battered and had several injuries all over, but still battle-hardened and ready to strike. Nodding at him, Zelda then helped Link by raising his sword with him while holding her own sword in her other hand, before both children thrusted the sword forward, launching a golden Sword Beam at the monstrosity, striking it head on. One more Majora howled in agony as it collapsed of the sheer pain the attack inflicted on it, its body shimmering with the sacred Golden Light of justice. This alone wasn't enough to take Majora down so easily though, as he got up, using a Spin Attack of his own to knock Saria and Ruto to the side, before promptly kicking Link and Zelda both to the other side of the arena again, after which he proceeded to use his tendrils as whips to strike them, performing a Rapid Whip Barrage on both the hero and the princess, leaving red gashes on their backs as well as a few holes and tears in their respective outfits. Both Link and Zelda yelped as they were hit several times, before Majora grabbed them and tossed them unceremoniously to the far side of the arena again, the two bouncing off the rocky wall before landing on the ground, grunting as they landed. This also proved to be an opportunity for Saria and Ruto, as they recovered from the Spin Attack, they moved in together to strike Majora with Silver Light Arrows of their own, stunning him long enough to strike him several times before Majora performed a back flip in order to escape from the two children, which in turn allowed Saria to focus her own Sage powers to heal Link and Zelda to a degree, able to lessen the injuries on their backs while Ruto used a Water Spout to douse Majora in water, sending him momentarily into the air before he landed flat on his face on the ground with a *THUD*. Link and Zelda both managed to get up after a minute thanks to Saria's healing powers, bringing them back into action.
"Thanks, Saria." Zelda said, smiling while Link nodded in kind.
"Don't mention it. Now let's get back at that freakazoid." She said, her two friends nodding, before the three went to assist Ruto in tackling the insane monstrosity.
Ganondorf on his turn was also brought to his knees as the distraction provided by Nabooru was enough for Rauru to strike him in the chest with another Golden Light Sphere, causing the Evil King to grunt in sheer pain at this. He looked up towards them in great anger, not believing he was being bested, again! Getting up, he managed to fire a dark blast at Rauru to knock him to the ground, before grabbing Impa and Nabooru and bashed their heads against each other, causing the two women to grunt and hold their heads in pain, only for Ganondorf himself being fiercely knocked to the ground by another Fire Punch courtesy of Darunia. Sitting up and looking to his right, Ganondorf saw Majora writhing in agony from being hit with the Silver Light Arrow by the four children. Seeing Impa, Darunia and Nabooru approach, Ganondorf used his own dark powers to teleport next to Majora, standing next to the fallen behemoth.
"As much as I hate it to say, I have to admit that you have improved a lot in comparison to the last time we met. Then it's safe for me to say that this is going to take longer than I expected." He said, looking around at the group.
"What are you talking about?! You're through, finished! Hand over the Triforce of Power and begone from this place forever!" Zelda said.
Ganondorf however smirked at the Hyrulean Princess, chuckling even.
"You seem to have gathered the same wit and attitude as that forest kid whom became the fabled Hero of Time… amazing what spending time with him has done to your spirit…" He said as he picked Majora up, whom was hanging a bit limply as he held him by the neck, with only Majora's calves, feet and tendrils remaining on the ground, "however, I wouldn't give yourself or your beloved friends for that matter any form of decoration just yet, Zelda… because this battle isn't finished by a long shot… in fact, it has only JUST BEGUN!"
With that, Ganondorf suddenly thrusted his free hand into Majora's back, causing the monstrous creature to howl in agony as dark energy flooded his entire being, causing Link and the Sages to look at this in utter shock and horror, while Ganondorf himself only had this sick grin on his face. It was then that flames appeared all around Majora, being blue and black flames that began to eat away at his entire body, as if it was disintegrating right in front of them.
"YOU MONSTER!" Link and Zelda both shouted in utter disgust as they witnessed Majora writhing away within the flames, his body deflating as if its energy was being drained from it, initially reducing Majora's body to nothing more than an empty, lifeless husk of which the head, arms and legs soon vanished, leaving only the Mask of Majora behind. Ganondorf then willed the Mask to attach itself to his own chest, merging it with its own armor as tendrils shot out to engulf the armor as a whole, turning the once black armor into a sickly flesh-colored wall of pure muscle, with the mask itself now serving as the armor plating by itself, retaining the spikes that now were set on his shoulders and on his sides. During this scene, Rauru, Nabooru, Impa and Darunia all regrouped with Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto, who stood together by each other, watching the scene unfold, although Link had prepared another Light Arrow, intending to fire at it at any moment's notice. Ganondorf chuckled at this.
"Fools… while I commend you on having made it this far and having held out up until now, you are overlooking a minor detail; that we have been improving on our own skills too. It may haven't looked like it, but trust me when I say you haven't seen anything yet." He said, right before his eyes changed to the dark eyes that belonged to Majora.
Link immediately was on guard, his bow at the ready, while the Sages stood by to assist him. Ganondorf saw this and chuckled again.
"So… hero… you and your royal girl called me a monster?" He then asked, addressing Link and Zelda directly as he had a sick grin on his face, "allow me to show you the TRUE face of the 'monster' that you see before you."
With that, Ganondorf first showed off the mark of the Triforce of Power on his hand, before hunched over at first and grunted as he tightened every muscle in his arms and legs. Before Link and the Sages could react or even respond to it, they could hear the unmistakable sound of bones snapping and resetting as Ganondorf's body began to convulse and jerk all over in place, right before his body began to grow. But as his body grew, his muscles were bulging and growing along with him, his form beginning to change as his legs snapped backwards in form and his feet becoming boar-like, as spikes also emerged from his head, standing upward while his hair grew partially over his back. Tusks appeared from either side of his jaws, becoming as sharp as predatorily fangs but the most disturbing thing was that he just kept growing… outgrowing the inner ring of the arena as the muscles in his chest, arms and legs grew to hulking proportions, each pulse of energy that flowed through his veins pumping them up until they were big enough to engulf the entire group of heroes. His teeth elongated into menacing fangs that made him even more demonic, while the spikes on his shoulders and sides also grew to where they could easily be used to skewer the group onto each of them.
Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru, Impa, Darunia and Rauru all watched in utter horror and disgust as the transformation took place, but as it entered its final phase, with the growing of Ganondorf's body length and muscle mass being the most prominent, coupled with the disgusting sounds of bones snapping and readjusting while his vocal cords changed to give the Evil King's voice a far more demonic sound, another emotion came through the entire group… fear! For the first time, Link found himself subconsciously taking a few steps back as Ganondorf… or better yet the entity FORMERLY known as Ganondorf began to tower over them with hulking proportions, becoming higher than the houses in Hyrule Castle Town, while two massive blades appeared within the monstrosity's hands. At specific spots on the bare arms and legs, it appeared as if the skin burst open as veins could be clearly seen through it, these veins beginning to glow green much like the eyes. The hair also received a more radical change, becoming also akin to tendrils on the tips as the normal hair grew down to over the neck. It went so bad that Saria and Zelda both grabbed Link close as the transformation finalized, with Ruto holding Link from behind, while he was stepping closer to the adults. As the transformation was completed, what now stood in front of the group was an entity with the appearance of the beast known as Ganon, but where it had once had a knight's plating as armor was now a fleshy wall of pure muscle, with the armored part being the shape of Majora's Mask with spikes protruding from its sides and shoulders, the tusks circling upward and its jaws bearing razor sharp teeth that could cut through flesh like a knife through butter. The outer part of his hair ended up in tendrils, which he too could use as whips, while in its hands were two massive blades that were bigger than each of the group by itself.
"No longer am I the beast known to you as Ganon… I am… Ganjora, the one who will end your pitiful lives!" It proclaimed, roaring in the sky as lightning crashed around the area fiercely.
