SSBM Master: Alrighty then. I've managed to come up with an ending and believe me, it's a doozy! With any luck, it'll be a complete surprise. But I'm confident that nobody, and I mean NOBODY will predict the ending (Though your welcome to try)

I do not own Zelda.

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Chapter 14: The rescue mission!

"Ok," said Link. He was speaking to the entire crew. Tetra's ship was settled behind the conveniently placed rock that shielded it from the view of the fortresses many spotlights. "Here is the plan. First of all this mission has two objectives. Number one, to rescue Medli and Makar from the fortress. Number two, to gather all the sages together and seal Gannondorf in the Dark realm."

Link paused for a moment to see if there were any queries. There weren't so he carried on. "At the moment, the time is 11:00pm. So we need to try and finish this in less than one hour. Obviously to complete this properly, we will need all sages to be ready and together in the fortress, so the first stage is this. Tetra, James, Aryll, Orca and I will take James's boat, and use it to get to the forsaken fortress. Hopefully, no one will see us." Tetra then pointed to a spot on the island that was at the foot of the wall, directly below one of the spotlights.

"That," she said "Is where we will anchor The Stinger. Right in the blind spot of that spotlight. We will then make our way along the bank until we reach the large wooden door. When, and only when, we make it there, do we want you lot to get to work. The catapult has been positioned so it will strike the door. When we make it there, you will fire the cannon, allowing us to penetrate the fortress. Afterwards, we want all of you to continue the assault. Try to take out the spotlights. We need them to think that you're the main problem, not us." One of the pirate's put up his hand. "Yes?" Said Tetra.

"What will you do?" Tetra was about to speak but James cut across her.

"We don't have time to tell you all the whole plan. We need to start as soon as possible." At being reminded of that, none of the pirates questioned further.

"All right." Said Link "If we do not come back within four hours, then we'll have failed. All of you will need to leave immediately. Understand?" Some of the pirates looked mutinous at that but none objected. "Good, then let's go."

* * *

James threw down the anchor. They had made it to the island. As much to luck as to good steering, they had also made it unseen. He followed Link off the boat and then helped the girls and Orca follow.

"Come on," hissed Link. "This way round." They followed Link round to the opposite side of the island where the large door was. On the way, James noticed that Aryll looked very pale.

"Feeling ok?" he asked her. She nodded numbly. "Don't worry. Once this is over, we'll all be able to go back home and rest. Just keep thinking about that."

"Ok," she said with a croaky voice. It didn't seem to help much so James then said.

"Tell you what, tomorrow I'll take you out to dinner on Windfall Island." Aryll looked up at him.

"You mean on a date?" James smiled. With all his emotions being used for anxiety, there was no room for embarrassment.

"Yeah…unless you don't want to of course." Aryll was about to give him an answer when they arrived at the front of the fortress and Link spoke up.

"Ok, here's the plan. This Fortress has two floors on the inside of the walls. The quickest way to get inside is to head straight across the main courtyard, and go through the large wooden doors. That will get us on the bottom floor, which is where the cells are. When we get there we will have to temporarily split up and go opposite directions so we can search the bottom floor quicker."

"What about the prison where Aryll was being kept in?" Tetra asked.

"I hadn't thought about that." Said Link.

"We will have to split up into three groups." Orca put in.

"The other cell can be reached by going up the steps on the right of the courtyard. Then you have to go round on the second floor until you reach the main tower. Then you just keep going up."

"I'll go," James, said "I'll be able to make it alone." He said this as he fitted on his mask and Link nodded. There was no time for arguments anyway.

"All right then, when our path splits, the girls and Orca can go left and I'll go right." He said. At that point, a bomb collided with the door, smashing it to pieces. They made it through to the courtyard. James took off to the right where the stairs were, whilst the others made it to the wooden double doors. Luckily, the spotlights were trained on the ship outside which was wreaking havoc. James managed to stoop past several Moblins that were transfixed with the events happening outside the Fortress.

He easily managed to make it to the inside of the first tower without being spotted. But he still had a long way to go. He needed to get to the top of the tallest tower.

"It's gonna be a long night." Thought James.

* * *

Link listened carefully. He could hear heavy breathing. Something was defiantly just round the corner and when it came to him it would get a big surprise. The moblin came round the corner and Link let loose the arrow in his bow. It soared through the air hitting the Moblin squarely in the right eye. It disappeared, allowing Link to continue down the corridor.

They had been in the Fortress at least a half hour and Link only had one more cell to check. The rest on his side had been empty. He turned the corridor. To his dismay, the last cell was also bare but at least now he could meet up with the others.

Link turned to see another moblin behind him. It charged, but Link tripped it over with ease. The spear it was holding fell to the floor. It tried to get up to run, but Link prodded it in the back of the neck with his sword.

"Where are the sages being held?" He asked fiercely.

"R-rhere…ruther shide." Link thought what the moblin meant was that they were on the opposite side of the fortress. Where Tetra, Aryll and Orca were headed. He also noticed a set of keys in attached to the moblins belt. He took them.

"Thanks," he said and gave the moblin a quick death for his trouble!

* * *

James opened the door to find himself outside again. He had made it to the main tower and was now on the outside path that lead up to the cell that Aryll was once kept in. As he made his way up, he saw two moblins leaning over the wall, staring out at the ship below.

"Get a closer look." James muttered and shoved them both over the edge. He heard them squealing in terror and then stop as the hit the rocks below. Not far now, James thought.

* * *

"Hold on," hissed Orca sharply. "There are two more about to come round the corner." Tetra could not see how the old man knew this, but since he had been right about it every other time, she saw no reason to doubt him.

Sure enough, two moblins came into view. Orca leapt at the first one impaling it with his spear. The second was quickly taken care of, firstly by Aryll firing one of her crossbow bolts, striking it in the shoulder, and secondly by Tetra jamming her short sword into it's ribs. Needless to say, both were little more than dust afterwards.

"Who's there?" Came a voice. Tetra looked round the corner and was relieved to see Medli sharing a cell with, what looked like an oddly shaped bit of wood wearing a leaf mask.

"Who are you?" It asked. Tetra jumped. The thing she assumed was a wooden statue, was alive! Orca and Aryll had now noticed them too.

"Greetings Makar," said Orca. "And I assume you are Medli." Medli nodded.

"Are you here to get us out?" she asked.

"Course we are!" Tetra said. She went to the cell door and pulled on the handle. The door was locked (obviously!) She tried again but to no avail.

"Great!" Aryll moaned. "Now what do we do?"

"You could DIE!" came a deep voice. They all turned to see a Phantom Gannon blocking the way back. It charged up a ball of energy, but before it could fire, a beam of light hit it, causing it to disappear.

"Or you could use the key." Came Link's voice. He had just fired a beam of light out of his bow from behind the monster. Aryll and Orca looked like they were making a mental note to question him about it when they had more time. Link then walked over to the cell door, and took out a set of keys, going through each one until he found the one to open the door.

"Where did you…" Aryll asked as he let out Medli and Makar.

"A moblin was kind enough to give it to me." Said Link, casually tossing the keys on the floor. "Now come on. We have to find James." And with that, they all followed him to the courtyard.

* * *

James entered the room where the cell was and was infuriated by the fact that it was empty. He had come all this way for nothing. He turned to leave the room so he could meet up with the others when he noticed another door. One so new, that it made the room look like it was newly built. Perhaps there was another cell inside? James went through the door and entered what looked like a library.

There were books of all sizes and shapes. They looked interesting, but James had no time for reading. He was about to exit when something caught his eye. On a desk near him, one of the larger books lay open and James wouldn't have given it a second thought had the page it was open on not had a diagram of his medallion on it. James looked at the writing underneath. This was how Gannondorf must have found out about it.

James read on…

* * *

"Where is he?" asked Link. They had made it to the courtyard, but there was no sign of James anywhere. "You don't think he got caught do you?"

"No," said Tetra firmly. "He's way too good a fighter for that."

"I know, but…" Link was cut off from the rest of his sentence by a loud horrified gasp that came from Aryll."

"What is it?" Aryll's quivering finger pointed to the top of the main tower. Slowly, very slowly, Link, Tetra, Aryll, Orca, Medli and Makar looked to the top of the tower to see…none other than…

Gannondorf!

He was standing in the same arena where Link had fought the giant bird that took his sister all those years ago.

"Welcome," said Gannondorf. He didn't appear to need to raise his voice. They could hear him very clearly in spite of the fact that he was several stories above them. "Welcome to you all. I thank you hero of winds, for bringing me the remaining sages. It will make everything so much easier."

Link felt cold fury build up somewhere inside him.

"Did you honestly think that it was possible for you to exit this fortress alive? Those foolish sea rats out there are just wasting ammunition. There is nothing they can do to save you. And as for myself…" Even with the distance separating them, Link could still see Gannondorf's smile spreading.

"I have the privilege of watching you all die!" Gannondorf clapped once. Suddenly, there were sounds of movement coming from all around Link. He could do no more than watch, horrified, as every door or archway that lead to the courtyard became a tap for a never ceasing flow of moblins. Within moments, Link and his friends had been driven to the centre of the courtyard. There were no less than five hundred Moblins surrounding them on all sides.

Only a miracle could save them now!

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SSBM Master: HA! How are they gonna get out of this one? This is the nastiest cliffhanger I've done so far but even this pales in comparison to the one I'm planning to set for chapter 15 (You'll hate me for it, believe me!)

SO, will Link escape the fortress alive? Will Gannondorf be defeated? Will James stop reading long enough to realise his friends are in mortal peril? You'll have to wait till next chapter to find out! #

Oh and I also updated my author's page if anyone's interested…….No? Ok then.