Eight years ago, Temple of Souls
The two royals entered into a short test of strength as the prince immediately pulled back. Switching the Magic Rod from the ax to the flamethrower configuration, Joshua unleashes a blast of flames, but Ganon wouldn't burn. So he changes the flames to a fire whirlwind to blow the larger man back. Before Ganondorf lands, Joshua charges again with the double-blade ax configuration. "HIYAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Ganondorf, however, is one step ahead, firing and hitting his successor with a strong blast of dark magic. With a cry, Joshua is knocked hard on the ground, almost losing consciousness. "Hahahaha, what a pitiful sight. You bear the Triforce of Power, yet you won't use it. Why?"
The prince struggles to stand, so he decides to speak. "So I won't be like you."
"Me?"
"I will not be a power-hungry warlord who doesn't know how to die. I won't become ruled by greed. I won't become another nightmare for our people." He raised his head, flaring his teeth at Ganondorf. "I won't become a pig like you. That's because I am stronger than you."
Ganondorf stops moving and looks at the prince, a snicker unleashing. He lets it go and leans his head back as he roars in laughter. Josh's grimace fell into confusion as he returns to his battle stance. "This is foolishness! You think you're stronger than me?" Creating a large, boarlike shadow, Ganondorf swipes the prince from one end of the garden to the other. "Ha ha ha. How dismally depressing. Would you care to struggle further?" Walking to the downed prince, he picks him up and throws him into the statue of the child Hero of Time. "Always hated that kid. His talk of an alternate future bored me." He picks Joshua up again and throws him into the wolf statue. "Wolves are such dirty animals."
"You...would know."
"Although I would admit, the Twilight Princess was very beautiful. Could've been a bride. Of all the things we could do before I kill her with my hands. Hell, even the Princess of Light would be delicious. But somehow, I have a craving for the color blue."
Joshua's pain immediately subsides at that very moment. Ganondorf's words send the beaten and bloodied prince into an unbridled rage. The Triforce of Power shines brightly as a red light surrounds the prince as he gets to his feet. "No! You will not get near her or anyone!"
Present Day, Joshua
The Temple of Souls, Lana's home. From how Joshua remembers the mansion as a museum dedicated to the Hero is much different eight years later. For one, the sun, now lowering in the sky, shines through the white clouds, giving the temple a much more inviting look than the purple skies that used to swirl above. The statues dedicated to the Hero of Sky, Time, and Twilight are gone, making the place less of a reminder of Cia. if Josh could call it anything, it looks more like a royal retreat in the forest now.
And the Goddess Butterfly lead them here, of all places. Facing the leading Lana, he sees the same confusion on her face. The second scale, from the ancient Earth Dragon for which the forest is named after, is in this very location. Her domain for over half a millennium houses one of Hyrule's most ancient secrets, and the Guardian of Time never knew it. It's bad enough she cannot see that time period in great detail.
Questioning the Goddess Butterfly's path is folly. Agitha said it herself, the insect leads one to their desire without error, and they both desired the location of the Faron's scale. It is with that faith that both of them drop off their horses and walk through the garden of the Temple of Souls. The butterfly hovers over them slowly, as it is appreciating the rose bushes that line the walkways. As beautiful as it is, his battle with Ganondorf here still haunts him.
"You're on edge," Lana says, breaking the silence between them since leaving the Kokiri Village.
"Of course," Joshua responds. His right hand unconsciously twitches in anticipation, ready to call for the Trident of Power at the first sign of danger. The King of Thieves is no stranger to hidden danger, for a good thief assumes he's always being followed. Once upon a time, the enemy was always ahead of them; now they trail behind, ready to strike at any moment. "You know they had to follow us."
"I already know they are. I recognize Volga's presence anywhere in the world right now. He has another with him, Dodonga."
"Then let's hurry. The quicker we find the scale, the quicker we can return to Impa. I just hope she gets to the Domain in time." Impa's true route is Zora's Domain, but only to serve as a distraction. Lana's hypothesis that the scale of Lanayru, the Lightning Dragon, is instead in Gerudo will be investigated once the three reunite, but until Josh and Lana give the signal, Impa, along with Malon, will reside in Zora's Domain and lure Morpheus, the Dragon Knight of Water, there.
Once at the front doors to the massive temple, Lana holds her hands on the wooden barriers. A glyph glows in response, and the doors recede in response. The foyer, with a large red carpet and two sets of staircases, is as Joshua remembers, but as on the outside, all traces of Cia are gone. If anything, it looks like the place was built yesterday. "What you do with all the pictures of Link?"
"Burned them. Best thing I thought to do with them. Helped to erase my foolishness that I could ever be with the Hero. Link, Zelda, I watched their love through countless tales, why would I think this time would be different? And then..."
He knew what stopped her, and for the slightest moment, he felt a tug on a heartstring. Joshua stops at the bottom of the right staircase, dropping his head. "Who...no, which are you? Are you more Lana or more Cia? Just one, or equally both?"
Lana, halfway up the stairs, turns back slowly. "Both equally. They were my light and darkness when they formed, so light and darkness merged again. Even at her redemption, Cia was still my lingering darkness. In other words, you were not wrong back then. Hence why Lana merged back with her to recreate me. But instead of one singular person as I once was, I am three people with different ideas, different likes, different pursuits of happiness. I guess it is like having an angel and a devil on your shoulders at all times, perhaps."
"I see." Joshua drops the matter there, catching up to Lana on the second floor. Nearby, the Goddess Butterfly hovers in front of another set of sealed doors, which leads inside to Lana's chambers.
"So it's in here. Literally right under my nose for half a millennium." Lana softly grazes her hand on the double doors. "I thought about why I can't visualize that era. It must be some interference from the divine. I never had much reason to look past the war between Hylia and Demise, so I never actually saw the time before. So when I tried, only getting those broken images, I believed it to be a limitation of my power. But with the knowledge that it took place only a decade before the war, now I think it isn't I can't see it, but because no one is meant to. I wonder who, for whatever reason, decided to hide this period. My predecessor? Hers? The gods?"
"Whatever reason it is, it doesn't matter anyway. With Link already back in the past, they have a good chance to discover history anyway. Besides, we don't have a moment to think about this." Lana looks up to Joshua, seeing him arc his head slightly to look behind them. If that gesture means anything, it is an incoming danger. Stretching his right arm out, Joshua summons the Trident of Power, stepping to the railing to overlook the foyer. "Get the scale, then get out of here," he says to her softly but firmly. She nods and proceeds to unseal the door while Joshua steps to the rail and looks down to the bottom floor. As he sensed, the Dragon Knights have finally shown themselves. Breaking into one of his old habits, Joshua decides to toy with the dragons to buy Lana some time. "Well, well, well, how does it feel to be back here, Volga? If I remember correctly, this was your girlfriend's house. At which moment, or shall I say at 'witch' moment did you realize she was wet as a Zora for the Hero, not you?"
Volga snarls. "You can quit the games, Gerudo. We're here for the scale."
Joshua chuckles. "What makes you think we know where it is? If you lost a scale, there's plenty in the Domain. No, wait, I think your dragon forms will suffice. Dodongo and Volvagia have scales, right?"
Dondonga sneers at the Gerudo King. "So why are you here, vasiliás, if not for the same thing we are. We've traced it here, I bet you have too."
"Well, even if that's true, I am with the lady of the house and, well I don't about you guys, but I haven't had sex in a few years. Dodonga, it's been millennia for you. You've probably got a serious urging going on. Tell you what, since we're all men here, you two leave and let me get my groove on, or you guys can be dicks and stay." "Lana, please tell me you found it."
"As I said, it's been right under my nose this entire time. I'll explain later, but first… I have to know if my prediction is correct."
Joshua sighs. "You're going to look for the last one?"
"Yes."
"...Make it count then." Seeing the Dragon Knights haven't removed themselves, Joshua throws the trident in front of them, reappearing beside it from a blue rift in space. Picking up the weapon, he gives it a few swings before turning to the Dragon Knights. "Last we meet, Dodonga, you insulted me. Let me tell you something about Gerudo kings...our power is absolute and we don't take insults to our power kindly. That's one thing Ganondorf and I do agree on, and as one of his many successors, it is my duty to..uphold the reputation." Electricity crackles around Joshua's body as he leaps forward, only giving Dodonga a second to react before drop-kicking the Earth Dragon out the temple. Landing on his feet, Joshua blocks Volga's strike. "So you reject your humanity, Volga? I believe the Hero of Time has a stone mask for your, traitor!"
"I haven't been a human for five hundred years. I have been a fool to maintain it." Volga kicks Joshua, making the king loses some balance which he compensates for flight. Throwing his left arm out, Joshua charges an orb of electricity and fires it. Volga batters it to the side with ease. "You have grown weaker in the last eight years. A younger you would have scathed me at least with that."
"I'll show you!" Joshua clicks his tongue in annoyance as he lands and rushes Volga. Volga dodges the two thrusts of the trident, but Joshua manages to catch the Dragon Knight lacking in footwork as he kicks the back of Volga's legs. Grounding his opponent, Joshua twirls the trident downward, but before he can make any move, he's grabbed by a sharp talon and thrown back far, landing in what they called during the war the "Southeast Keep". Groaning as he picks himself up, Joshua looks up to see the Earth Dragon's half-metamorphosis. Like Volga, he has wings, but a noticeable difference is the shards of red crystals down Dodonga's spine. Much like the monster named after him (or the one he stole the name from), Dodonga armor glitters like pure gold, blinding the Gerudo King.
"No, it is you who underestimate us. This vasiliá daímona you speak of, if he was beaten by chumps like you, what does that say? He's pathetic. How this 'powerful' man terrorized this land so many times in our absence is beyond me, but we Dragon Knights know true power. We watched it fall from the sky, raze our homes, burn our people, and we had to become this to fight back. It was we, not the theoús, not the íroas, who saved Hyrule!" He holds his sword out to the Gerudo, still kneeling. "You know nothing about how it feels to be betrayed after you risk your life to save the world. To have your brothers and sisters caged up and scattered for eternity...it is a crime Hyrule must pay for with fire."
Joshua ducks under Dodonga's lunge and barely escapes his fireball blast. Grimacing at the pain shooting up his right side (a rib or two are definitely in a painful condition), Joshua stands up and begins to ponder how to fight the Dragons. His abilities in healing are marginally inept compared to his combative abilities, so if he is to heal, he'll have to rely on physical strength while dedicating most of his magic to healing. The last seven years of peace haven't given him a reason to train in it. But to face Dodonga and Volga, physical strength alone won't cut it. Even though the Trident has its own mana, Joshua has rarely used it since being awarded it. But another weapon in his arsenal shall even the odds long enough for Lana to hopefully be done. "If you knew my people's struggle since Ganondorf's first insurrection, you would know just how much we've suffered. Maybe not as much as you, but we can relate. The Hylians are assholes, their patron goddess is no better. But even though I haven't spoken to them in years, you've threatened my Hylian comrades. The Zoras, the Gorons, you've threatened them, even following us into the forest threatens the children of the woods. My people aren't exempt from this fire of yours...so I'll fight fire with fire!" The Trident is replaced with the new and improved Magic Rod, stronger than the original form Joshua used years ago. Changing it to the double-blade ax form, Josh's aura ignites with fire along with more crackling from the implanting lightning affinity of the weapon. He leaps towards Dodonga, throwing the ax towards the Dragon to unfocus him before landing and gripping the floating ax to go on the attack. Dodonga, however, manages to keep up.
Dodonga leaps back and morphs his hand to a talon. He grazes the floor, throwing tiles and other debris Joshua's way. Joshua leaps through the veil, changing the battleax to a much larger staff and emitting a powerful blast of energy at Dodonga. The knight is launched back up the northern hallway as the ball of energy explodes. Josh chuckles to himself as smoke blinds him to the sight of Dodonga. "Heh. There's no way you didn't…" Joshua's jaw drop as red eyes shines through the smoke. It is immediately pushed away to reveal Dodonga dusting off his shoulder smugly. From the strongest weapon in his arsenal… Dodonga...didn't suffer a single scratch?
"Try harder." Dodonga begins to slowly walk down the corridor back to Joshua, who peppers the Dragon Knight with shots from the Magic Rod's normal form. That's when he's once more grabbed from behind, thrown in the ground violently face first, then on his back. Discarded like an unwanted doll, Joshua lies in immobilizing pain as the knights gather above him. The air in the room suddenly shifts, and as Josh looks up, he realizes this maneuver all too well. King Dodongo's strongest attack is preceded by suction of air. Reaching into his pockets, Josh manages to find a bomb and ignite it, throwing it up to catch the updraft. He hears Volga call out a warning, but it is too late as the bomb explodes in front of the knights'. Using the bomb's explosion as a means of escape, Josh summons a fire dragon from the rod and sweeps out the keep towards the foyer.
"Lana, please… Please be ready." As he comes to the foyer, he sees Lana there, lying on the floor unconscious. No… Did he… He left Volga here and had forgotten about him. Volga must have… Landing by Lana, who is hurt but retains her consciousness, Joshua turns back to the Southeast Keep. The presence of the Knights are gone, and with them, the Earth Scale. They now have two in possession. Biting his lip, he holds Lana in his arms. Once again at the Temple of Souls, he failed to protect a precious artifact from the enemy in battle, and now he failed to protect Lana. Somewhere, deep in his psyche that threatens to bubble up, the latter fact hurts more.
But they only need one. There's a chance Lana found where the Lightning Scale is. If so… Impa must be warned. "Impa, I hope you can hear me...we've failed. Volga and Dodonga have the Earth Scale. If they're going anywhere, it is to the Domain to join with the other. Be warned… I wasn't powerful enough, and neither was Lana." Looking down at Lana's right hand, he sees the faded Triforce of Power. It calls to him, its true master. Lana is vulnerable right now, he can take back what is rightfully his. With its power, there's no one equal except Link and Zelda.
"Jo… Josh…" Lana's voice gains his attention, so he looks into her worried purple eyes.
"Hey."
"Volga… He took it. He took the scale."
"I know. They're gone." Setting her back down, Joshua drops on the floor next to her. "They're too strong. I just warned Impa, but I don't even know if I even connected to her, heh."
"Are they really too strong?"
"Yes."
"The Joshua I know never said that." Lana faces Joshua, her eyes set on his. "He never admitted he was too weak, even when he was beaten. He got up and fought even harder next time. I never knew what drove him, his pride as a Gerudo, his ego as a prince, his desire to protect his homeland, or what is in his heart...but it made him more powerful than any of us. It was why I… I mean, it was why Lana loved you...and why Cia respected you, as you two are more alike than you think."
Joshua turns away, fighting the rising feelings he put down years prior. To combat them, he focused on the mission. "Did you find the scale? Is it in the desert?"
Slowly, she nods. "Yes. It is in the desert, in Fortuna. Right above your throne."
"What?" Joshua growls in anger. It is one thing to be in the desert, but to allow Hylians into the capital city? If the knights figure out where the scale truly is… Riju is going to kill him. "...Fuck."
