Volga
The Dark Forces were ready.
Weeks spent capturing fairies made our favorite witch impatient. Yet it was necessary. Wizzro told her that fairies could help the hero should he appear, and Cia might be challenged if so. The Hero of Time had one, she knew, but who thought those moths could be trouble.
Only one escape, and conveniently it was here near the castle.
Two birds, one assault.
Except there were rocks in her way. 'These Gorons never learn. But why are they here?'
No matter. Today, Hyrule falls. "Minions, ATTACK!"
Cia felt a slight disturbance, one so familiar...
"Cia, leave the fairy alone! It hasn't hurt anybody!"
"I should've guessed that you would be the one protecting the fairies. Foolish and futile, Lana."
Below him, lizard-kind rushes to battle with the Hylian Army. The battle engaging reminds Volga of the invasion of Cia many years ago. The element of surprise, compared to then, is lost and the humans are ever prepared to defend the capital. The humans, however, still are overpowered. With the Hero, Prince, and Sorceress in the desert, that leaves the Guardian and the Queen alone once again.
History will repeat itself but in full favor of the Dragon Knights. Volga conjures a smirk underneath his mask that doesn't go unnoticed. "You're smiling," he hears Morpheus, the Water Knight, say. They're two of the three knights that ventured here, with Dodonga racing straight to battle in the field.
"Just a memory of the past."
"Oh, right. Is it a good one?"
However, Zelda was easily overpowered by Volga. She began to call for the retreat. But Volga cut through her defenses and-
"Burn in hell!" A large blast hit and hurt the dragon knight. Zelda knew that voice for 10 years.
"Hello, Zelda." There stood the Gerudo Prince. "Shall we advance?"
Volga, caught off guard, and kinda humiliated, immediately flew back to the West Rockface Keep, and Zelda gave the call. "No! We have to cede this ground and withdraw, friends. We'll regroup and return later."
Volga was surprised at the youngster's ability. 'Perhaps I underestimated this boy. He even impressed me. Sadly...Wait, what is he-'
"Link, raise your sword skyward. I'll use magic to enhance your attack."
Link backflipped and, catching the dragon-man off guard, raised his sword. Proxi used her magic, extending the blade's reach and strength. Link began to spin and hit the knight.
Volga flew back, landing in a kneeling position. Link was proud but didn't show it. However, he was exhausted from the battle.
Volga was pissed. "Get out of my way, boy." Using his power, Volga's right arm changed into a dragon talon and he charged at Link. The boy held up his shield, but exhaustion and the dragon's own strength caused Link to fall unconscious. Impa immediately was there to protect the boy and fight the knight.
"How noble. Enjoy your shared grave." Grunting, Volga releases a beam of fire at the two warriors. Nothing but flames remained.
He smirked and turned.
Suddenly, golden light engulfed the keep. Volga turned and couldn't believe what he saw.
The boy wasn't ordinary. He was the legendary hero reborn!
Impa couldn't believe it either. "Could you be...?"
Link couldn't believe it either, but his focus was the dragon knight.
Said knight decide that someone had to know this. "You haven't beaten me. You've merely hidden behind your shields and otherwise."
"No, not at all." Volga folds his arms as he glances at his companion. Morpheus chuckles as he collects his trident from his back and aims it somewhere to the eastern side of the battlefield and throws it. Seconds later, a giant explosion of water washes the field without discrimination of man and lizard, and a moment later, the weapon returns to Morpheus' hand.
"Hm, missed. Hey, Volga, you fought in the previous war. Why didn't your mistress take the castle?"
"Wasn't the plan. Cia's mission was to claim the Hero and the Triforce, and if it came to it, kill the Princess. Domination was not a goal."
Morpheus snickers in response. "Interesting. Well, Fire Dragon, I'll keep watch over the battlefield here for a while longer. Aquamenta is in the direction of the castle...and powerful presences are between us and him. One more powerful than the other. Seems Dodonga is having some trouble breaking through."
Volga snorts. "Give him the signal." Spreading his wings, Volga shoots off towards the capital. If the powerful presence is the only one it could be, Volga eagerly awaits to meet her once again...
Alduin
"Move all the non-combatants in the castle towards the city through alternative pathways. I want to draw the Knights to the castle. Any further reports from the outlying posts, Captain?"
Pipit shakes his head as he follows the king out to the archer-filled ramparts of the castle. "No, Your Majesty. That might mean they're close by."
Alduin pauses and silently looks to the northern sky. "If what Zelda says is true, the true scale is with King Joshua. Whether the knights coming here know this cannot be explained right now. Two of them stayed in the desert for some reason. Either they don't know or they're coming for Aquamenta. Either way, we have to take the chance Joshua is lying and I have the true scale." Looking down to the courtyard within the walls, scores of soldiers stand at attention around Her Majesty and her new fairy companion. With only one-third of the Triforce in Hylia, the others in Gerudo, Alduin hopes Zelda's power is enough to defend the castle. No power can be greater than those blessed by the gods, right?
For once, Alduin hopes the gods are indeed on their side. As the pair steps up to Karene, a distant pop gains the king's attention. Out in Hyrule Field, somewhere close to the city gate, a red smoke signal soars up. "That must be Malon," Karene says.
"What the hell is going on?."
"Everyone," Alduin addresses the assembled force below, "our enemy is here! We are here to take them down, to defend Hylia, no, all of Hyrule. We will not let these terrorists take our land, to avenge what we are innocent of. They want the goddesses, take them to the goddesses." Turning in the direction of the plains, Alduin places his hand on his sword. "If the gods are with us," he says to Pipit and Karene, "then this would be a great time to show that."
Pipit turns to the king. "Are you praying, Alduin?"
"I guess I..."
Impa
Dodonga stares at Impa and her three companions with utmost bloodlust in his eyes. Impa herself is out of breath. Protecting Ralph, Malon, and Colin while fighting at a disadvantage physically and magically, it has taken a toll on her. But the four of them have prevented Dodonga from advancing into Castletown...on his feet.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Knight turns his attention to the sky above. Impa cannot determine if he's watching for something or planning his next move, but the knight ceases his attack. After much consideration, Impa rises up to her full height and silently orders the others to not attack. Instead, she follows Dodonga's eyes. He is indeed waiting for something or someone. "What's the holdup, Dodonga?"
Dodonga lowers his gaze to Impa. "Nothing much. We are now all gathered after so long apart...so now our vengeance can begin!" Dodonga shapeshifts his hand and strikes the ground with his gold and red talon. Chunks of earth fly in the Hyruleans' direction, disrupting their view of Dodonga as a flash of red and gold permeates the debris. Impa swings her blade strongly, breaking through the blinding debris and regaining sight. Dodonga, however, is nowhere to be found, only the light left behind
"Oh shit," Impa hears Ralph say before a monstrous roar erupts in her ears. That light metamorphosizes into a gigantic quadruped beast, better known as King Dodongo. "Something tells me bombs aren't going to cut it this time."
"Get off the bridge! You at the gate, brace yourselves," Impa commands as Dodonga's monstrous form suctions the air around him and charges a powerful fire blast. Impa and Ordon Unit leaps into the water underneath the bridge while the soldiers at the castle keep take shelter. Glancing up (the moat is shallow) Impa sees the fireball soar towards the atmosphere, not the capital's main gate. She then sees a flash of red head in the direction of the blast and as they come into close proximity, the orange swirl of fire suddenly changes path. Beside Impa, Malon fires a red smoke signal to signal the castle. Impa glances up to Dodonga, the monster returned to a man, and a sickening smile graces his face as a distant explosion rocks her eardrum.
Zelda
Zelda's face drops as smoke covers the central area of Castletown. She didn't see the cause of the destruction as Alduin did, but she felt the impact and had to see what just happened. It saddens her that her subjects are indirectly part of this attack, yet at the same time, it enrages her that the Dragon Knights wouldn't limit their ferocity to noncombatants.
"Pipit," she hears Alduin say to the Ordon Unit captain, "protect and rescue the civilians. Take as many soldiers as you need." Pipit quickly leaves, taking Karene with him and half the soldiers within the castle with him. Turning back to the burning capital, Alduin's fists tighten, his face explodes in fury. "Bastards," he says so deeply, so darkly it is almost a whisper. "Zelda, what do you plan on doing?"
"What do you suggest?"
"I'll take care of Aquamenta."
Zelda nods as she looks up, sensing a familiar presence incoming. Volga… Sighing, she turns and steps away from Alduin. "Sticking with the plan, I'll hold Volga at bay. Hopefully, Link and the others can hold their own and join us. But if not…" She pauses and faces Alduin, her face stern. "Fight well, King Hyrule."
Alduin nods and turns away. "Same to you, Queen Hyrule."
As the pair separates, a single thought crosses in her mind. "Alduin...is he…"
"He will be fine, Zelda. I took care of that while you were gone. Queen Ambi will watch over him until it is safe. If he is anything like his mother and father, you need not worry." As Alduin walks away, Zelda gazes at her feet. She hasn't said anything to the others (besides Impa, of course) but the less complicated Zelda makes the situation, the easier it will be for her and her cohorts to function.
She looks to the ahead to the pale blue ball of light hovering silently in place. Proxi faces the city, her wings fluttering slowly in sadness. "Proxi?"
"How can they do this? Cia wasn't like this...Not even Ganondorf, if I recall correctly."
"Vengeance can blind a man, Proxi. They see only their pain and suffering, so they are unable to see it in others." A shadow passes over Zelda and Proxi, followed by a thunderous landing in the center of the courtyard. Below, some of the soldiers step back in fear of the Fire Dragon Knight while others hold their position and maintain distance from him. Zelda eyes him with venom in her eyes. She never hated Cia, her spite with Ganondorf comes from her reborn soul, but as an individual Zelda, Volga and his fellow Dragon Knights have earned her ire.
Unfortunately for Volga, he just fell into Zelda's trap. A magic circle forms at his feet, ensnaring him, so he is helpless as a bolt of lightning strikes from the sky. The Great Fairy, in her wisdom, set this up, much as she did in Link's battle with Volga in the Era of Sky years ago. Volga howls as the aftereffects of the lightning twitches throughout his body. For the moment, he's trapped. As she drops to the lower ground, she nods to a few of the soldiers. They rush over to the incapacitated Dragon Knight capture him with anti-magic cuffs. As they lock him up, Zelda kneels down and looks Volga in his face. His snarling breath still retains its fiery temperature, but he can't produce a flame stronger than a cough right now. He's more man than a dragon, yet Zelda doubts that a shred of his humanity is still present.
Now she understands Joshua's sentiment with Cia. To have people you care about caught in aa war they're not directly involved in...but unlike Joshua and the Gerudo (in which Joshua had no fault in), this is partially her fault. Despite her and Alduin's every precaution, they put their people in the line of fire, they put them in danger. She'll atone for it by making their unneeded sacrifices worth it. "How could you, Volga? How could you betray Hyrule like this? Cia's war, I overlooked because you had no choice, but this… You killed civilians!"
"Ruarrgh! Prepare to meet your fate!"
"You call this a fight? Pathetic! I use to believe you were an honorable warrior."
"Haaa. Don't mock me!" Volga locks his weapon with Joshua and begins to win the test of strength as Josh powers down.
"Where has your honor gone? Are you content with being a mindless servant? What would your wife, your children, your men, and women think of you 500 years ago, General Volgan?"
It takes Volga a while before he powers down and expells all darkness from him. "No...NO! I will not be ruled by darkness! The battle between us is nearly at an end. Now let me show you how a true warrior finishes a fight!"
"You used to fight with the honor of a warrior. Where is the honor in killing those who cannot fight?"
Volga scoffs and looks to Zelda. "Honor...is something the weak believe in. All is fair in this game of war, Your Majesty. And if you care so much about honor, you sap my power with the help of that damn fairy queen and these chains. So, Princess, where is your ho-Gah!"
Standing up, Zelda leaves her rapier in Volga's abdomen. "Go into the city," she tells the soldiers, "either help with rescue efforts or reinforce the battle. Captains, I leave that decision to you." As the troops depart, Zelda turns to the north, where Hyrule Field is. "Impa, I assume you know what's happened in the city?"
"Yes. But what is the situation at the castle? Did you capture Volga as we did Dodonga?"
It worked on Dodonga too. Great. "Yes, Volga is here… Wait, you say you have Dodonga? Where's Morpheus?"
"...Shit. I'll begin the search for him, but if he didn't join Volga, could he have headed an alternative route to the castle?"
"Through the water, he'll head into the sewers that lead into the castle dungeon… You follow from the field, I'll head to the dungeon. If he's hit, he might be stunned for a moment for us to catch up. Make it quick."
"Yes, Your Majesty..." Zelda, annoyed, sighs and turns to the northeast. She hopes Link and Linkle have caught up to Mogera. That is the only news that can make a terrible situation somewhat better. Reaching out for her sword, she notices the lack of it flying into her hand.
"Zelda..." Hearing Proxi's worried tone, Zelda turns around. She sees the rapier still stuck in Volga's torso and the Dragon Knight now stands up, his chains are broken. His magic is still severed, but his physical strength is apparently more than enough to overcome that.
Frowning, Zelda forces the rapier out of Volga, talking some enjoyment out of the grunt he produces in response. Grabbing it, she prepares for her second bout with the Dragon Knight. "Impa, you're on your own."
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg...
Morpheus yanks the cell door free of its hinge with ease, tossing it on the dead guard's corpse. Peering inside, he sees the green-armored man sitting inside, a bright grin underneath his bright blue eyes. "Morpheus, my old friend."
"Aquamenta." Morpheus takes his trident and pries off the anti-magic chain on Aquamenta' ankle. Coming off with ease, the leader of the Dragon Knights flexes the joint before standing up.
"How long has it been since we last saw each other?"
"From what I've heard, more than 2000 years from the first records of this Hylians. Maybe another thousand... I have no clue."
"Too long, then. The times have indeed changed." Aquamenta holds his hand out, summoning a large scythe from the air. He looks to the "blade," made from the bones of a large creature. "But the players are still the same. Link, Impa... This 'Zelda,' Hylia's daughter, they are but reflections of the ones we know."
"Impa is no bother. But o íroas and i theá, they have more troublesome allies. A polemistís vasiliás and a mágissa. Without those four, this country stands no chance. Once the ladies have their part, no one will stand before you." Morpheus hands Aquamenta the Water and Fire Dragon Scales.
Aquamenta takes the scales, nods and steps out his cell. "Well, I suggest we pay the gods back the same way they've paid us. Once the last scale is reunited with its brother and sister...this world's heroes will be lost in time..."