A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all the reviewers xD
Reviews are my lifeblood :)
Early the next morning, just as the mist was clearing from the ground, the group left the Lost Woods.
The Koroks gave some mushrooms and fruit for them to eat on their way back to Woodland Stable.
The Deku Tree wished them luck on their journey and his gaze lingered on ganondorf who looked away from the tree's penetrating look.
Mt. Lanayru was just past Lanaryu Promenade and Naydra Snowfield. From what Astrid said, the next temple was possibly in the Promenade so it was on the way anyway. It wasn't too far out of the way for ganondorf to visit the Spring of Wisdom. He had mentioned it to Link and Zelda who appeared to be all right with the slight detour.
Astrid waved at the Koroks from her perch on Ganondorf's shoulder as the group departed. They quickly passed by the military camp, able to get by without incident.
Grabbing their horses from the Woodland Stable, they continued towards the Promenade.
"What's the faster route?" Bazz asked as he and the other two Zora walked beside the horses.
Letting Helltrotter continue to walk on his own, Ganondorf grabbed his map so he could look at it.
"If we head down towards Wetland Stable, we can go up Sahasra Slope and through—shit."\
Link raised an eyebrow as Zelda asked, "What?"
Ganondorf grimaced as he gripped the map. "The quickest way to the Promenade is through Kakariko Village."
Link furrowed his eyebrows before he appeared alarmed as he remembered what Kakariko Village was.
"Shit," Zelda whispered.
Going through the Sheikah village didn't bode well. Especially with nearly all of them supporting King Rhoam. They were bound to know Ganondorf was wanted and recognize him.
"Is there another way?" Sidon murmured, sensing the group's distress.
Ganondorf stared at the map for several minutes before he sighed, shaking his head. "Any other route would require a lot of mountain climbing and we'd reach Naydra Snowfield first. It's too cold for you Zora to handle so quickly."
Mipha nodded in understanding before she said, "But you are going up to Mt. Lanayru. That's cold."
"Yes. That's part of the idea of visiting the spring. Temper the body through braving the cold then temper the spirit through bathing in the spring."
"How interesting," Sidon said. "It's much like the test Zora go through to join the guard."
What do they have to do? Link asked, looking at Sidon in interest.
"They have to get a shock arrow from the Lynel that stalks near the ridge by the reservoir. Shock arrows are deadly to our kind, you see. Then they have to jump from Shatterback Point before the Lynel spots them. A lot of potential guards balk at the idea of being near the Lynel."
"Did Bazz have to do that as well?" Zelda asked, glancing at Bazz who began to appear embarrassed at all the attention on him.
Mipha giggled. "Oh, yes. He became captain not only because of his skill with a spear but because he grabbed four shock arrows from the Lynel."
Bazz cleared his throat. "It was nothing. I was just showing the recruits that the test wasn't that difficult."
But it had been difficult. Bazz had only gotten four arrows because he knew Mipha had been watching. And for some reason, almost getting caught by the Lynel several times made him feel superior and a bit dizzy with anxiety.
Despite being Demon Seggin's son, Bazz didn't have the electrical resistance his father did. So he proved his worth not through the test, but through spear fighting and swordsmanship and archery. His skill rivaled Sidon.
"It was still very brave," Mipha murmured, smiling at Bazz.
A blue spread across Bazz's face and Sidon chuckled at the captain's embarrassment. Bazz elbowed him before he could say anything.
Sidon held up his hands in defeat.
In a little over an hour, the group arrived at one of the entrances to Kakariko. They stopped by the gates as they debated on what to do.
"Perhaps if we just go through, we'll get to the other end without trouble?" Sidon asked.
Zelda shook her head. "They'll recognize Ganon. I'm sure there are wanted posters for him."
"If there was a way to disguise him," Mipha murmured, tapping the side of her cheek.
Link frowned before he perked up and slid down from Epona's saddle. He went to Ganondorf, tapping his leg to get his attention.
Ganondorf looked down to see him holding up a hand. "What?"
Give me your Rupee.
His Rupee? The one from the temple?
"What? What for?"
The shop could have a hood. We can use it to shield your face.
"What a wonderful idea!" Zelda said. "With that, we could pass through relatively easily."
Ganondorf made a face before he reached into his pocket and flipped the Rupee at Link. "Don't make me regret this."
Link grinned and saluted before he ran into the village.
Ganondorf sighed as Helltrotter shifted. "Let's hope his idea works."
"His ideas usually do," Zelda said.
"Remember the cuccos?"
"I said usually."
"What happened with the cuccos?" Mipha asked with an amused smile.
It had to be a good story if it made Zelda embarrassed.
"He decided it'd be cool to throw stones at a few cuccos when we were ten," Ganondorf explained. "It's all fun and games until they retaliated. We had to hide up a tree for hours until they left."
Sidon chuckled. "I take it he learned to never bother the cuccos again?"
"You would think," Zelda mumbled, tightening her grip on Bluebell's reins. "A week later, he did the same thing."
"Does he have a death wish?" Bazz murmured, not sure why Link would purposely antagonize cuccos shortly after being attacked by them.
"You should have seen the time he challenged the Applean Forest Hinox with a stick," Ganondorf chuckled. "It threw him in the river."
"A Hinox?" Sidon asked, appearing amused by Link's bravery. Or stupidity. "He must be a good fighter then to challenge such a behemoth."
"No, he's just stupidly brave," Zelda sighed.
The Triforce of Courage made their wearer pretty much fearless but she feared that it took self-preservation instincts with it.
Mipha laughed. "He sounds interesting to be around."
"Sure makes our lives less boring," Ganondorf murmured, rolling his eyes.
And more hectic, Zelda thought.
Link returned, waving the hood above his head and gesturing to it eagerly. He handed it to Ganondorf.
Staring at the small piece of dark-colored cloth warily, Ganondorf managed to get it to cover his face enough to look less conspicuous.
Link gave a thumbs up and a grin before he returned to Epona.
"Let's get through quickly," Ganondorf whispered, tugging the hood down a bit further.
The group entered the village. As they walked through, a few villagers stared at them.
Ganondorf wasn't sure if it was because of him or the Zora who weren't generally seen too far from their home. Sidon himself was pretty impressive. Perhaps they were staring at him.
They passed through with little incident, making their way past the forest on the village outskirts and beginning the trek to the promenade's west gate.
Once they were far enough away, Ganondorf threw off the hood with a sigh,
That had gone smoother than he had expected.
A half hour later, the group passed through the gate and entered Lanayru Promenade.
Astrid popped up on Ganondorf's head. "There is definitely a temple here."
"Here?" Zelda asked. "You're sure?"
Astrid nodded with a giggle.
"Good," Ganondorf said, satisfied that Astrid was now certain of the temple's existence. "We can kill two birds with one stone."
He halted Helltrotter and jumped down.
"How are we going to find the temple?" Sidon asked. "I've not seen nor heard of a temple here."
Then we'll look for it, Link said. Split up.
"What a marvelous idea!" Mipha said, clapping her hands. "It would make the search go faster."
Ganondorf looked at Astrid. "Can't you lead us to the temple like last time?"
Astrid remained silent for a bit before she shook her head. "I can't pinpoint the location."
Her leaf seemed to wilt.
"I'm sorry."
Ganondorf patted her head. "That's fine. Splitting up it is."
"I'll go with Link," Sidon piped up, pointing to the Promenade's opposite shore. "We'll search that side."
"Mipha and I can search the upper walkways," Zelda said, looking up at the catwalks crossing over the promenade.
As the four left to go to their designated spots, Ganondorf and Bazz stared at each other.
"I guess that leaves us," Ganondorf said.
"Yeah," Bazz muttered awkwardly.
"You and Bazz seem pretty close," Zelda murmured as she and Mipha searched the promenade's upper walkways for any sort of strange symbols.
Mipha appeared startled, whipping to look at Zelda as a blue blush cross her face. "What? No, he's just the guard captain. He protects me and Sidon and the Domain."
Zelda raised an eyebrow, a smirk obvious even with the mask covering her face.
Mipha sighed, headtail flicking. "It's that obvious, huh?"
"To me, at least. Boys can be dense when it comes to feelings. How come you haven't told him?"
"Oh, no, I can't. Muzu would have a heart attack. And besides, usually the male starts courtship first."
"Really?" Zelda frowned as she stared at a carving in the wall but after finding it wasn't anything important, she moved on. "He hasn't done that yet?"
"It's possible he isn't interested in me. I think he likes Gaddison."
Zelda gave a hum before she said, "Don't give up. He may surprise you."
Mipha glanced at Zelda with a small smile. "Thank you."
"Do you think a temple would lie in such an obvious place?" Sidon murmured as he stared at a wall drawing.
Link gave a shrug as he stared at the ground for any obvious sort of symbol.
So far they hadn't found anything interesting.
"Perhaps it's in the water?" Sidon suggested.
Link stared at the water skeptically before he shook his head. He did not want another water temple, thank you very much.
Look for anything that could be a switch.
"It looks like there's a pathway behind the waterfall," Sidon said, pointing to the waterfall that crashed into the promenade's still water. "Perhaps that may hold a clue?"
Behind waterfalls were promising. They could always hold clues.
Link nodded and they headed to the waterfall.
Sidon paused when Link suddenly grabbed his arm and he stared down at the Hylian. "Yes?"
Link was staring intently at something as he dug his nails into the Zora's scales before pointing at something.
FROG.
Sidon looked to where Link was pointing and sure enough several feet away a single hot-footed frog was lazily hopping around.
"Yes, I see. Do you like frogs?"
Link had already dropped into a crouch and crept towards the frog.
Sidon watched in amusement as the Hylian attempted to catch the frog.
Ganondorf ran his hands along the wall, feeling for anything unusual, while Bazz looked at the walkway.
Astrid was reclining down Ganondorf's shoulder, comfortable with her perch.
"Find anything yet?" Ganondorf asked, glancing at Bazz.
The Zora shook his head. "Not yet."
The two went back to silence as they continued to look.
Astrid leaped up when she sensed something, spotting a black tendril lifting out of the water. "Look out!"
Bazz and Ganondorf looked at Astrid's alarm, noticing the tendril as it lashed out towards them.
The tendril wrapped around Ganondorf's throat and yanked him into the water.
Ganondorf struggle to grab his words to hack the tendril off him, but several more wrapped around his wrists to stop him.
"Ganondorf!" Bazz yelled, diving into the water to swim after him.
Astrid squeaked and disappeared, reappearing by Zelda and Mipha to yell, "Something grabbed Ganny!"
"What?!" Zelda asked.
The tendrils appeared to be trying to drag Ganondorf down to the bottom of the promenade and Bazz struggled to keep up with them.
A tendril released Ganondorf and lashed out, striking the Zora's chest plate.
The hit dented the metal and Bazz halted at the pain reverberating through his chest. That was enough for the tendril to disappear with Ganondorf.
Glancing around the murky water, Bazz swam a few more times around where the tendrils had gone but didn't find anything. He swam to the surface and jumped out onto the pathway, fumbling with the chest plate before unlatching it and letting it drop to the ground.
He looked at the bruise already beginning to form on his chest, rubbing it gently.
"Bazz!"
Bazz looked up to see Zelda and Mipha running towards him.
"We heard about Ganondorf!" Zelda said. "Where is he?"
"Some tendril thing dragged him beneath the water. I tried to follow but it struck me."
"You're injured!" Mipha gasped, moving closer and touching his chest to check for another injury.
Bazz cleared his throat, struggling to ignore her touching him as he looked at Zelda. "I lost sight of them."
"He's still under the water?!" Zelda squeaked, looking ready to jump into the water herself.
Link shook his head as he grabbed her arm.
"I'll search," Sidon offered, setting a hand against his chest. "Perhaps the beast left clues."
Before Zelda could protest, Sidon had already dived into the water and beneath the surface.
Link looked at Bazz. You said a black tendril?
"Yes." Bazz nodded, not failing to notice Mipha's touch lingering a bit too long. "Three. One dented my chest plate."
Link frowned as he bit his finger in contemplation.
There was only one amorphous black creature he could think about but it hadn't been able to turn into tendrils. And he had defeated it. Right?
Unless it was something completely different.
He remembered Ganondorf's words about the spider in the forest temple being a guardian. Perhaps it was also a guardian.
For Ganondorf? Link wondered.
A guardian of a temple for a single person? He supposed it wasn't out of the question.
Sidon broke the surface of the water. "Hey! I found a structure down in the depths."
"A structure?" Zelda asked.
"What sort of structure?" Mipha questioned, looking at Sidon.
"I can't tell. Even my bioluminescence can't distinguish it. Whatever it is, it's huge and has no entrances."
Link set his jaw.
That was a temple. So, whatever had grabbed Ganondorf was a test meant solely for him.
A test for what though? Link wondered.
Whatever it was, Link was certain that Ganondorf would pass it easily.
Ganondorf was thrown from the water, landing on solid ground with a grunt. He got onto his hands and knees to cough up some water he had inhaled during his capture before shaking his head to clear his vision.
He slowly looked around to see a locked door near him and across a patch of water was another door. In the middle was some sort of contraption.
It looked like a—
"A temple?" Ganondorf murmured to himself, slowly dragging himself to his feet.
"Hello, Ganondorf."
At the voice, Ganondorf instantly whirled around, unsheathing his blades. He froze at what he saw.
Four males and an enormous, bipedal boar. All were entirely black with glowing red eyes.
He recognized them easily. Demise stood out among the group with his size. Next to him were the Ganondorfs from the Eras of Time, Twilight, and the Great Sea. The boar was from the Era of Light and Dark. The only time he hadn't had a true, human form other Than his alter ego Agahnim.
Ganondorf stared at all of them warily.
Shades? Was this a test? It had to be a test.
Test what? Ganondorf wondered. Whether I can beat my demons?
"You should be seizing the destiny that is yours," Twilight Ganondorf growled. "Why do you stall?"
"You've had several opportunities to kill your enemies," Time Ganondorf agreed. "Yet you haven't at all."
"Kill the Princess and the Hero!" Demise snarled. "They're your enemies. They always will be your enemies. If you don't kill them, they'll kill you."
Ganondorf frowned before he said, "They're my friends. We're not going to abide by the cycle this time."
"You will obey the cycle!" Beast Ganondorf snarled. "No matter what you do you can't break it. Because,"
"You are us," all the shades intoned.
Ganondorf remained silent for a bit, remembering Link's words.
You aren't them.
"You're wrong. I'm not like you."
The Ganondorfs looked at Demise.
"Then it's time to start a new cycle," Demise said, tilting his head towards Ganondorf.
Drawing his twin blades, Great Sea Ganondorf charged at Ganondorf.
Ganondorf met him halfway, their blades clashing.
They pushed against each other, trying to overpower the other before briefly breaking to begin slamming their swords against the other's blades repeatedly.
"You cannot beat me, young seapup," Great Sea Ganondorf growled. "I know all your moves."
Ganondorf grunted as they continued to clash, glancing to his side to see that Twilight and Time Ganondorf were slowly creeping to either side to attack while he was distracted.
The second they lunged, Ganondorf shoved Great Sea Ganondorf back then kicked him in the chest. Then he lifted his swords up on either side of himself, the swords of the Six Sages and Time Ganondorf's trident crashing against them.
Thrusting both of them back, Ganondorf sprang at Time Ganondorf, driving both blades into the shade, one in his chest and one in his forehead. As he pulled them out, the shade disintegrated.
One down, four to go.
Demise stayed behind, watching the battle calmly. He occasionally paced from one side to the other almost impatiently.
Beast Ganondorf stepped forward as Time and Great Sea Ganondorf stepped backward. He twirled his trident then lashed out with one end.
Ganondorf backed up as he blocked the attacks.
As his back hit a wall, Beast Ganondorf gave a rumbling laugh as he purposely stabbed his trident out, the sharp edge cutting a small slice into Ganondorf's left upper arm.
He pulled back, grabbing the shaft of his trident in his other hand, prongs aimed for Ganondorf's chest.
As it came towards him, Ganondorf lifted up his blades, both catching in the prongs. He twisted his blades sharply to disarm Beat Ganondorf, dropping his blades as he grabbed the trident.
Alarmed, Beast Ganondorf stepped back with a growled, "Wait—"
Ganondorf lunged at Beast Ganondorf, stabbing the trident deep into the monster's throat. As Beast Ganondorf toppled backward, Ganondorf used the momentum to stand on the boar's chest, shoving the trident deeper.
As the shade disappeared, Ganondorf glanced up at the other three shades, eyes burning a faint gold.
Twilight Ganondorf gave a grunt, dropping to all fours as he shifted to Ganon. Pawing at the ground, he snorted and shook his head before charging.
Ganondorf straightened, holding out his hand.
Flames erupted from his fingertips, striking Twilight Ganon head on.
The boar squealed, rearing up from the burning flames.
As the flames dissipated, Great Sea Ganondorf came rushing through the smoke, blades slashing outward.
The tips caught Ganondorf's forehead, blood spurting out in an X-shape.
Ganondorf stumbled back with a scream, clutching his forehead as the blood dripped into his eyes. He glared at the three shades before he held out both hands and another stream of flames exploded from this fingertips, larger than last time and engulfing both Twilight and Great Sea Ganondorf completely.
When the flames died down, the only shade left standing was Demise.
Ganondorf scowled at him, breathing heavily as a faint sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
Demise smirked. "That magic takes a lot out of you, didn't you realize?"
Ganondorf bared his teeth at the demon before he dropped to one knee, supporting himself on his hands. The second he looked back up, Demise was right in front of him, the jagged Sword of Despair swinging out and slicing a long cut across his chest, tearing his shirt and part of his jacket.
Before ganondorf could even comprehend the pain from Demise's blade ripping into his skin, the demon used the flat of his blade to slam into the redhead, sending him crashing into the far wall.
"You may have been able to beat them, but you cannot beat the original," Demise growled slowly, beginning to approach Ganondorf as the other struggled to get to his feet despite the pain lancing through him.
Ganondorf managed to get to his hands and knees, but a sword tip pressed against his throat.
"Now, give up on this foolish endeavor. What do you think will happen if you do this? That she'll fall in love with you? That you could be happy?" Demise gave a low chuckle as he tapped his sword against Ganondorf's chin. "Don't be absurd. Who could ever love a monster?"
Ganondorf scowled at Demise, glancing down briefly to see that his swords lay nearby. He smirked at Demise. "Even if this all goes to hell, at least I can say I spit in the goddess's faces."
Holding up his hand, Ganondorf shot a fireball at Demise's face, causing the demon to reel back with a roar. Taking advantage of Demise's distraction, Ganondorf lunged to the side to grab his swords. He turned over on his back and flipped to his feet.
Demise howled and rushed at him. Ganondorf charged back, driving both of his blades into the demon's chest.
The serrated edged of Demise's sword barely scraped the side of Ganondorf's neck.
Demise bared his teeth in a grin. "I wish you the best in your foolish undertaking, little one. May Hylia's blessing follow you in the darkest of shadows."
A rumbling noise caught the group's attention and they looked towards the water just as structure rose up from beneath the surface, water cascading off the sides.
It screeched to a halt and a door slid open, a walkway rising from the water seconds later.
"Is that the temple?" Zelda asked.
Link gave a nod. Has to be.
"That's the structure I saw beneath the water," Sidon said.
"Then Ganondorf's in there!" Zelda said excitedly. "Let's go!"
Before she could step onto the walkway, a figure staggered out of the temple's entrance, leaning against the side of the doorway.
Ganon! Link signed when he recognized the figure.
Ganondorf raised a hand in greeting then gestured behind him. "I found the temple."
He took a step forward then collapsed.
