Author Chronicles: Return to Hyrule

a fanfic by charity236

Disclaimer: I didn't create Zelda. So there. Oh, and flames will be given to Rauru to melt his chocolate coins.

Now for the second part of my "super special double update special". Wait, does that make sense? Oh well...

The title of this chapter kinda says it all.



Chapter 10: Of Ghosts And Poes And Sprites

'Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!' everyone yelled as they fell down the hole, which had become a metal chute.

They landed on soft pillows.

'I don't like it in here,' Kaepora whimpered. 'Too small a space to fly.'

'Be thankful you can fly at all, Kaepora,' said Tatl. Her new curved swords had kept banging into her as she slid down the chute.

Link got a Deku Stick out from his bag and Navi lit it.

'Wow! Look at all the treasure!'

There were mounds of gold, piles of silver, heaps of differently coloured jewels. Groups of assorted weapons, furniture and other objects were scattered around the gold piles. Two statues of Gerudo women stood in front of an archway.

'Well, shall we go through the arch?' Link asked.

'Alright.' Nabooru's eyes started to fill with tears.

The mini procession walked through the archway, into a beautiful circular room. There were Gerudo carvings on the walls and stained glass windows (even though the room was underground) with candles on the sills, to create a spooky light. A life-size statue of Nabooru's mother stood in the middle of the room, with engravings on the bottom:

RIP

Then, in smaller writing:

Only when I have the treasure of the Spirit Temple will I be truly happy.

There was a hole in the base of the statue, big enough to slot a sword into.

'Wow.' Link stood in awe at the beautiful room and statue.

'Oh, Mum!' Nabooru ran and knelt in front of the statue. Link took out the Fireblizzard Sword and gave it to Nabooru to place in the slot.

There was a grazing sound as Nabooru shoved the sword into the hole.

A bright orange light shone. Link was almost blinded by it, and Kaepora had covered his eyes with his wings.

'Daughter... Nabooru...' Nabooru's mother had appeared, but was transparent. A ghost.

'Huh?' everyone said. Link looked up from the ground and Kaepora uncovered his eyes.

'You... found... the treasure... the Sword...'

'No. It was not me, but my friend, Link,' Nabooru said to the ghost of her mum.

Link stepped forward.

'You?'

'Yes, me. I entered the Spirit Temple through the secret entrance, and found the treasure. When Ganondorf found me I slashed him with my sword, and he ran off. I took the Twinrova's Blade, and then Twinrova herself appeared. They shot a fire-iceball at me, but my fairy Navi blocked it.'

Navi now stepped forward too.

'You... a fairy?! You're... too big... to be a... fairy,' said the ghost of Nabooru's Mum.

'No I'm not!' said Navi, and put the Fairy Mask on.

'Alright... what happened then?' asked the ghost. Navi took the Mask off again.

'The ball of fire and ice bounced off Navi's wings and hit Twinrova. They fell unconscious. Navi was hurt, but not much. And that's just about all that happened - oh yeah, Nabooru renamed the blade "Fireblizzard".'

'A name... worthy of a sword... like that.' The ghost looked extremely happy, yet extremely weary. 'Thank you... Link, for taking... the sword. Navi, for stopping... Ganondorf and Twinrova... from taking it... off of you. And Nabooru... for giving it... a worthy name, and placing... the sword into... my statue. Plus -' the ghost looked at Kaepora and Tatl '- those of your friends... who came with you... I thank you too...'

Everyone was really proud.

'All of you... may take... something...from my... treasure pile. Do not... let anyone else... come in... here, or they will be... cursed. Never let people... enter this chamber... Goodbye... Nabooru and friends...' The ghost "hugged" Nabooru, and whispered something to her which Link couldn't comprehend. Then Nabooru's mother "shook" Link's, Tatl's and Navi's hands, and in the case of Kaepora, his wing.

When everyone had said goodbye, the ghost disappeared. Nabooru had tears running silently down her face.

The group of friends walked back through the archway and chose their rewards.

Link picked out a jewelled dagger and scabbard. Navi and Tatl found two similar necklaces, made of gold, with fairy charms on them. Kaepora settled on a small sack full of jewels. Nabooru had a long time deciding, but eventually found two curved swords, like the ones she had given Tatl, but much sharper, and had Spirit Medallion symbols carved into the hilts.

'Guys, you go up the chute. I have to do something.' Nabooru turned and walked back to her mother's statue.



'How the hell are we going to get up there?!' Link asked his fairies and owl friend.

'Maybe you could fly up. You DO have those wings, after all,' Navi suggested.

Link tried to fly up the chute, but banged his head on something at the top.

'It's blocked off!' he cried. 'That stupid gravekeeper must have moved the headstone back.'

'Use your Megaton Hammer!' Kaepora yelled.

Link pulled it out of his bag and whacked the headstone so hard it flew through the sky... and landed on the gravekeeper's hut roof!!

'Hey! Is someone throwing headstones around here or something?!' yelled the gravekeeper from his ruined hut.

'No!' Link yelled back. 'I hit it with my hammer!'

'That must have been some hammer,' thought the gravekeeper.

'Now, everyone fly up. Kaepora, stay behind so you can help Nabooru back up here too,' ordered Link.

'Hoo,' Kaepora agreed.



When Link, Navi and Tatl had escaped from the hole, the gravekeeper proceeded to tell them off.

'DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN!!!! Entering graves... stealing treasures... what next? Giant Poes?!'

As if in answer to the gravekeeper's question, a giant Poe sprang up from a nearby headstone.

'Oh hell.'

Link took out the Master Sword and charged at the Poe, sword-first. It speared the evil ghost in the stomach (if Poes have stomachs), and the Poe shrunk down to a little yellow spirit thing, which fell down another shaft.

'Look Link, that's the Royal Family's Tomb down there!' Navi exclaimed. 'Maybe the Poe is trying to tell us something?...'

'Maybe,' Link nodded, but before he could jump down the hole to see what the Poe wanted, Nabooru and Kaepora burst out of the hole where Nabooru's mother's grave was.

'Link!' Nabooru yelled as she ran towards Link, holding something in her hands. 'My mother wanted you to have these.' The Gerudo held out the Fireblizzard Sword, and a smiling Poe-like spirit encased in an orange crystal.

'Why does she want me to have the Fireblizzard Sword? I thought SHE wanted it!' Link said.

'She just had the feeling it might be useful to your quest... you never know when something like that will come in handy.'

'I guess... And what's the crystal?'

'That's the Gerudo Spirit Sprite. I think you have to place it in an altar somewhere... Mother mentioned a royal place...'

'The Royal Family's Tomb! Of course! That's what the giant Poe was trying to tell me about!' Link realised. He grabbed the Fireblizzard Sword and Spirit Sprite from Nabooru. 'You guys stay here, I'm going to go find the altar.'



Inside the Royal Family's Tomb, it was half-flooded due to the rain that had poured into the hole over the years. Murky water with all sorts of gooey stuff in it, yuck.

'Ewwwww!' Link cringed. He decided to put on his Hover Boots so he could hover over the disgusting slimy water.

At the other side, he opened the door and found the room with the poisonous green slime and the ReDeads. He'd almost forgotten about those zombie-like things. Damn.

Link played the Sun's Song and the ReDeads froze, letting Link cross the room without having to worry about them.

In the next room, there stood the tombstone with the inscriptions of the poem and Sun's Song, but there was no sight of any altar. Wondering what to do next, Link sat down on the stone floor before seeing the giant Poe again.

Link took out the Fireblizzard Sword and pointed it at the ghost, but it flinched before saying, 'I know you are on a quest to find the Spirit Sprites, and you need to find the altar, no?'

'Yeah - where IS it?' Link asked.

'Do not let your eyes deceive you, and you will find the way, yes?' Then the Poe disappeared.

Link thought about his hint. '"Do not let your eyes deceive you..." I know! The Lens of Truth.' He drew the red and blue magnifying glass from his bag and used it. There, behind the tombstone, was another walkway.

Along this walkway were two levers. Link groaned - he hated this sort of "50-50" thing. Nevertheless, he chose the right lever.

A Ceilingmaster immediately swooped down upon him, but Link ducked and pointed his sword at the sky - it pierced into the giant hand and killed it, making it burst into green flames before several Blue Rupees appeared as a reward.

Link took the Rupees gratefully before pulling the other lever. This time a large swarm of Keese burst out from a hidden trapdoor; they flooded his vision, so he swung the sword around aimlessly. Several of the Keese were downed, but a particularly large one dodged Link's blade.

Notching an Ice Arrow to his bow, Link let it fly, hitting the giant Keese and freezing it in an instant. Thinking that it was a job well done, he smiled before taking the Lens out again, scanning the area for invisible levers and pathways and such.

There was something - a rotating diamond switch right above him on the ceiling. Thinking that the Longshot and arrows might not be fast enough to hit it, Link found his Boomerang, and threw it at the switch. The Boomerang curved around several times before nicking the switch just enough to activate it.

A stone wall to the left of Link opened up. Link walked through and found the altar.

The room shone with a blue light not unlike the Chamber of Sages. The altar was Triforce-shaped, with three round holes on each of the triangles. Link, trembling slightly, took the Gerudo Spirit Sprite and placed it into the orange hole, which was at the top of the Power triangle.

There was a bright orange light before what sounded a lot like Zelda's voice echoed out:

~Well done Link. But there are still eight Spirit Sprites to find. The next Sprite you need to find is somewhere in Holodrum. Go safely, my young Hero of Time, for there is evil abroad.~

But was that REALLY Zelda's voice? To Link it sounded a lot older, or maybe it was just him?...

'Uh... can you give me any other hints?' Link asked, grinning sheepishly.

~Look for the one with the golden key... Oh, and two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.~

Link stared at the altar. 'Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do?! Since when is THAT true?'

The voice said no more.

'Helpful...' Golden Key. Who in Holodrum had a golden key? He couldn't think of anyone - but then he remembered Rosa the Subrosian. Of course! Her key supposedly opened any door.

Smiling, Link examined the altar some more. The other eight holes were each different colours - red, brown, violet, blue, light green, yellow, dark green and white. Link had an idea which holes were for which Spirit Sprites, but there was no time for standing around. He had to get back to Nabooru and the others.



'Where is he? He's taking quite a while,' Kaepora moaned.

'I reckon he'll be back in about half an hour,' Navi said just as Link stepped out of the hole.

'The moral here is to never speak too soon,' Link smiled.

'Well did you put the Sprite in?' Nabooru asked.

'Yep, and the next one I have to find is in Subrosia.'

'Where's Subrosia?' all of his companions asked.

Link sighed. 'It's an underground area in Holodrum with lots of volcanoes and lava, and the Subrosians live there. They wear robes with hoods which are never taken off.'

'And just HOW are you going to get there?' Navi asked.

'I'll ride Epona halfway, then maybe call Rocky and he'll get me to the nearest warp spot.'

'Who's Rocky?'

'He's this boxing kangaroo I met in Holodrum - nice guy, lets me hop in his pouch every once in a while.'

'What's a kangaroo?'

'[big sigh] A kangaroo is like a large rabbit with a pocket - it has a pouch and can jump really high and far. But right now you need to get back to the Fortress, Nabooru. Kaepora will fly you back there, I think Moonshine and Epona are enough for me to handle.'

'Fine,' Nabooru nodded.

'Good, then it's settled. Navi, Tatl - we'll head to the Chamber of Sages to tell Zelda we've found the first Sprite.'

'Right then. See you when you get back from Holodrum,' Nabooru said before grabbing onto Kaepora's legs and flying off.

'Okay. Let's go,' Link said, watching Kaepora fly away.

'Er, there's just one little problem,' Navi said. 'There's two of us oversize fairies, and only one Fairy Mask.'

'Oh no...' Link bit his lip. 'Tatl, since you're the more controversial-looking one - no offence - you take the Mask, sorry Navi. None of us could help that Ingo turned Tatl into a Gerudo with that stupid dust.'



In the Chamber of Sages, Rauru was sitting in a recliner, counting chocolate coins. Zelda was across the room from him, muttering to herself. But when Link, Navi and Tatl approached her, she stopped it immediately.

'Hello Link.'

'Hi.'

They stood in silence for a moment, wondering nervously what to say.

'Uh... I found the Gerudo Spirit Sprite,' Link exclaimed after a while.

'Great,' Zelda smiled, but didn't say or do anything else. She seemed to be preoccupied with something, most likely her own thoughts. Link, not being able to read minds, didn't know what those thoughts were.

Rauru picked up a chocolate coin and opened the foil, but it slipped from his hand, rolled across the floor and down into the almost-bottomless pit below. 'Darn, that's two-thousand and fifty-seven minus one, uh... so that makes two-thousand and fifty-six.' Link laughed and shook his head at this.

At that moment, a Subrosian wearing a large orange bow and a golden key on a chain appeared at the door.

'Is [pant] there... anyone called... [wheeze] Link in here?...' the Subrosian asked, breathing heavily.

'Rosa! What are you doing here?!' Link asked.

'Link, there you are!...' Rosa panted.

'You don't want to go on another date with me, do you?'

Zelda looked at Link in surprise before frowning heavily.

'No... big trouble in Subrosia... some "dragon" monsters just blew up the "temple"!'

'WHAT?! DRAGONS DESTROYED THE TEMPLE OF SEASONS?!'

'Just the "under temple"... the "above temple" is fine...'

'Guess I'd better go with you then. Come on Navi, Tatl. Bye Zel,' Link said before Rosa led him out the door.

Zelda frowned again before going back to whatever she was doing before.

'What was that about?' Rauru asked.

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Okay, I realise that Nabooru's mother's ghost was annoying (all of that ... stuff) but she won't appear again.

But in the meantime, what on earth are "dragons" doing, destroying the "upper temple"?! Find out... next time.

Next Chapter: Author's Annoying Activities

Note - the title of the next chapter may change without notice.

Oh and please review, be nice :)

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