"And now we know where the true divine come from. Not from those who are born with power and do nothing with it, but from those who are born weak and make themselves strong. Hylia and Demise, the two who came from heaven and hell to fight for earth. The descendant of Hyrule's darkness and its light stand together. And for what, to face me?" Phantom Ganon rises in the air, chuckling as if he won the battle already.
It boils Zelda's blood that Ganon is as prideful as he is. "You speak so confident for someone who has lost several times to a lesser man."
"Link? The Hero is no lesser man. Matter of fact, he is the better of the three of you. He knew when to cede this fight!" Ganon thrusts his arm forward, electric energy expelling from it. It arcs towards both of them simultaneously, Zelda having to use Nayru's Love, Ganondorf using his own shielding technique he learned from his earlier battle with Ganon. However, the electricity is too strong to be perfectly blocked; cracks begin to form on both shields as their integrity lowers.
"Ganondorf!" The Gerudo prince turns to the Hylian princess, the girl struggling to move to her right. "Merge the current!"
Did she just suggest such a crazy idea? "You want to cross the stream into one? We can barely handle the current power at the moment, you want to increase it?"
"Trust me." Zelda's pleas initially had no effect on Ganondorf, but her aqua eyes hold a determination he cannot ignore. She has a plan he cannot see, an idea he cannot fathom. Despite his caution, he begins to move towards her. The closer they come, the stronger the streams become, threatening to shatter their shields before they join up. Somehow, someway, they manage to accomplish their goal. The shields, now together, equally take up Ganon's power, manage to use each other for support, giving their wielders extra protection. However, it is wasn't enough.
"I hope you have a better plan, we cannot hold out for much longer."
"No, it is this phantom that is out of time." Zelda draws Ganondorf's heavy longsword, nearly dropping it due to its weight.
Ganondorf, confused, looks at the princess. "What are you doing?"
She hands him his sword, then points at Phantom Ganon. "On one, drop your shield and begin summoning all your strength. On three, throw your sword. Got it?" Ganondorf doesn't argue, so Zelda focuses on Nayru's Love, dispensing her power into maintaining it. She closes her eyes, focusing on the distant presence behind them. "Link?"
"I got it. On two, Farore's Wind."
"Good." She hears the shields cracking, hurrying her timetable. "You ready, Ganondorf?" He nods. Time to begin this risk. "One!" Ganondorf's shield vanishes as his power within him rises, forcing Zelda to take the full power of the electric streams. She hears the phantom's low laughter, probably thinking that the prince had faded out. Her own shield is beginning to lose its strength quickly too, as the devil realizes.
But her plan doesn't get realized. With a struggle, she manages to cry out "Two!" She senses the use of Farore's Wind, the spell stored in a crystalline stone for Link's use. She sees the green light that indicates the spell on the ground behind the aerial phantom. Everything is going to plan, it is going to work. With one hand, she summons an arrow of light, charging its power. The other hand, she touches Ganondorf's back. "Three! Prohibere tempus!"
On cue, time stops. Only she, as the Sage of Time, realizes this completely. The only other form in motion is Ganondorf, who believes he is throwing his sword in real time. The illusion needs only to last the two seconds Zelda is able to halt time. Once the blade is close to Ganon's chest does time resume, and the phantom is completely unaware of what happened.
The Sword of the Sages impales the phantom, causing him to drop his attack on the royalty and his position in the air. As he falls, Zelda fires her light arrow, hitting its mark between Ganon's eye. Finally, as he lands on the ground, the teleporting Link appears, running the Master Sword through Phantom Ganon's back.
Link
Though Link takes no chances in releasing his sword, the phantom made no move to remove any of the weapons from him. He turns to the sword spirit that now appears. "Is it done?"
"Yes, Master."
"Thank you." Link expels the Master Sword. He looks up to the approaching Ganondorf and Zelda. Ganondorf steps up to the phantom, removing his blade forcefully as if he is hurting the true form of Ganon, not his double.
Speaking of the phantom, it resumes its chuckles, throwing Link off. He lost the battle (call it a pyrrhic victory if you must) yet he manages to find some humor in defeat. "A risky move, but perfectly executed. Princess, your wisdom is impeccable as always. Yet you only have beaten my phantom. Neither of you, alone or combined, is a true match for me."
"You almost sound displeased," Ganondorf growls.
"You are right. I am displeased. You hold back, Princess. You rein yourself too much, Prince. And Hero...you have earned your place among them, but not even you will be able to defeat the odds the Hero of Legend accomplished. I am nearly as powerful as I was then...and you are not even close to fighting as he is. You lack something he did...and I shall draw it out from you before you die. But even then, we will have a fight that pleases me, once the final puzzle piece is connected."
"Oh shut up." Link swings the Master Sword at Phantom Ganon's neck, beheading the apparition before it vanishes completely in a cloud of purple smoke. The three coughs and back away as the smoke diffuses in the air, then once it is completely gone, they stare at the spot where their enemy was slain. Sighing, Link sheathes the Master Sword. "So Ganon is back. Like not dead anymore?"
Ganondorf nods. "He was wished back."
"But Vaati would not do that. Everything he did was to be better than Ganon. He did everything to avoid the Demon King."
"So he must have been betrayed. But by whom? Ghirahim, Veran, and my sisters are too loyal to the Imperial King. Zant is not even in this realm."
Link frowns. "Woah. Wait. Zant? Your sisters?"
Ganondorf crosses his arms. "Right. We hadn't caught up on what we've been through since Rauru, though I hear you've missed out on much. Zant is alive, again."
Link nods. "No, I understand that. I faced a revived Horsehead in the last battle. But where is he, if he's 'not in this realm?'"
"The Twilight Realm with Midna. It has been a few days now, and I don't know how she fares."
Link sighs, placing his hands on his waist. "I see. Your sisters, I heard from Ralph and the others about a Gerudo joined with Veran and Vaati. I guess that is one of them."
"Yes, it is Koume, the elder twin. But she has her powers and her sister's, and takes on the name of a Gerudo legend named Twinrova." Ganondorf looks to Zelda, noticing her distance from the conversation. "Zelda, what is wrong?"
She turns to Link, the Hero taken aback but the barely visible anger in her eyes. "You knew."
Link frowns. "What did I know?"
"My mother."
Link prepares to deny, but then Zelda's words hit him. He hadn't told her. It slipped his mind the past two days, given the circumstances, yet now as he recalls Vaati's secret, Link bows his head in shame. "I… I did not mean to keep it from you. It just slipped my mind."
Zelda walks to Link, her anger worrying him yet he stands in place. He doesn't have the will to look her in the eye. "Did Impa get the chance to know?"
Link nods. "Before I left, Vaati and your father confessed to both me the truth and I passed it on to Impa. I do not know what Vaati may have told her otherwise, but...your mother lives, Zelda. We must save her."
"That is fine to think about," Ganondorf says, looking to the south where the Death Mountain range is barely visible, "but we need to get to Hyrule Castle first. We need to be at our full strength. The Hero, me, the Seven Sages, we need to be united to take on Vaati and Ganon."
Link agrees. "We'll need Midna. Ralph's plan also must work."
"Then we don't have time to waste." Zelda folds her arms, looking at her allies. "We have lost too much. Friends, family, subjects, the people we're supposed to protect. We have lost everything to Vaati and Ganon, but we still have a chance. One chance. We're are done having the fight come to us. We are taking it to them." She grunts as she grips her side. "But...for now...we should rest up and heal before we part ways in the morning. Ralph and the others have their instructions, and I'm sure they know we're alive and well to some extent. We'll discuss more tomorrow."
North Castle
"So the devil has revealed himself to his immortal enemies." Veran taps her finger to her chin, more thinking aloud than speaking to Vaati who stands beside her. "That is bold of him."
"He knows we cannot beat him. Normally I would call that pride, but it is the hard truth. They barely managed themselves against his phantom." Vaati vanquishes the orb of smoke that allowed the king and queen to witness the battle that just took place. He looks at the empty palm, his face devoid of emotion. "I am quite...foolish for thinking this, but reality must be accepted. We just watched four of those nine kids take on Phantom Ganon, and the three best had to join together and use Zelda's time manipulation to succeed. It is their weapon as it is ours."
"Hmm, in that case, let me go back in time and make a few adjustments. Of course, there could be drastic changes by even the smallest correction."
"Too big of a risk. There is no guarantee it will work out in our favor. Nor will waiting aid us either. He came to them without physically raising a leg, he can do the same here." He closes his hand, turning to his queen. He frowns a little, slightly disgusted by the idea that now grows in his head. But it is the only way. Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, he's beaten them all yet in each bout they manage to hold their own, or in Zelda's case, actually win. As enemies, they are formidable.
Yet if they were something more...
Twilight Realm
Despite the cell suppressing her ability to summon her power, Midna still senses his presence. No one knows the sinister aura her brother brings with him, and once the dungeon doors wailed opened and shouted closed, the place became swarmed with the darkness of the Twilight Prince.
Ugh, that title disgusts her.
She stands as footsteps approach her cell. To her knowledge, she seems to be the only one in the dungeon as a bittersweet quiet has enveloped her since the first guard she met left. She resorted to trying to break out with magic (before finding out her power is dampened) to figuring out how to get her way out. The guards must have identified her, surely they know who she is, yet another question is raised: Just how the hell is Zant not in the dungeon?
She'll get her answer soon enough. Just as she steps up to the cell bars, Zant makes a dramatic appearance. Still dressed in his robes, the elder Twilight dances and laughs as he graces his presence before Midna. "My dear sister, finally we are home! After all this time, after all our trials and tribulations, we have returned to the Twilight Realm!" He pauses as he realizes she doesn't share his level of enthusiasm, sigh as he drops the act of flair. "You know, I could have left you to die. Could have killed you in that vulnerable state. But that would be quite cruel of me to not let you see the wonders of the Twilight Realm once before you die."
"Oh, that's so sweet of you," sarcastically quips Midna. She steps up closer to the bars, wishing her eyes could burn out her brother's face. "Why am I in here, if you wish for me to see my homeworld?"
Zant smiles as he steps back to the opposing wall, then slides down it to a sitting position. "Heh heh heh. I do not know if you are ready for the answer, my dear sister. The truth might sting. You've only been here four days and you want to know this place's dark secrets?"
Four days? That's…when she left Hyrule, she remembers it being more than 48 hours before either Zelda retires the Triforce of Wisdom or Vaati destroys Darunia Town. Then there's the status of Ganondorf. "Four days?"
"Ah, you've missed a lot. I'm sure you are confused because of what was going down in Hyrule. You can relax, your friends are alive. That might be the only comfort. The Triforce is claimed by Vaati, but here's the fun part: Agahnim betrayed him and took his wish. The Resistance is no more yes, but in exchange for their souls, Ganon is returned. Agahnim played us all." Zant clicks his tongue in annoyance, Midna notices. If what he says is true, the Imperial took a loss in the last few days as well as Ganondorf and the others, though the return of her lover's ancestor is quite troubling.
"Who is this Agahnim?"
"Some wizard. Do you know the stories of the one who tried to revive Ganon after the former princess was awakened? That's him. You might call him responsible for Ganon's appearance on Death Mountain a few days back. In truth, it was Ganon, but it also was not. Ganon's power, yes, but Ganon's body, no. Just a vessel, but a limited one at that. I believe your boyfriend fought that abomination. Anyway, that is not what you truly want to know. What you really want to know is the reason why you're in there and I'm out here." Zant eyes his sitting sister with humor and anticipation, smiling in his preparedness for her pain. "Tell me, Midna, do you want the answer short and painful or long and torturing?"
"Whatever makes me understand why you're acting like an ass, that is how I want it."
"Heh. Long and torturing it is."
