The SSBM Chronicles – Chapter 30: Link's Test
An SSBM Fan Fic, by Smoke_Rulz
srssbm.cjb.net


*** AUTHOR'S NOTES ***

SSTL Prologue. Has author's note. Considering. Fan submitted. Characters that I. May include in. Future. SSTL Chapters.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, I've made 3 nice updates to my literary characters page. At the page, you can read up on information regarding several characters I've created for use in stories I write. In addition, I have a massive Easter Eggs page, where I reveal little nuggets of info about different parts in all of my stories, and also further explain some parts of the plotlines that I never explained the stories themselves. With all this, there's a few links to my websites and profiles. So if you wish to check it out, check the bottom of my FF.net Profile for the link.

And now, on with this chapter.


Link fights for a moment, slowly breaking away from the grips of the strange shadow hands. He finally breaks away from the final hand and turns around, unsheathing his sword. The hands attempt to come back at him, but suddenly pull back. Link raises his sword and gets ready to slash, when the hands start disappearing. The dark field projecting them disappears, leaving Link alone in a dark room. His eyes become accustomed to the darkness. He can see the room is circular, with unlit torches adorning the wall. He doesn't spot much else. He decides to use his fire arrows to light the four torches. Upon doing so, it becomes quite apparant that there is no doorway out. He looks around everything else, and notices weak gravel in the middle of the room. He walks over toward it and pulls a bomb from his bomb bag. Using the pull fuse, he lights it, and tosses it onto the breaking point. The bomb explodes, taking the piece of floor with it. Link walks toward the hole and looks down, seeing nothing but darkness. Before he can decide what to do next, the chunk of stone he's standing on gives way to his weight. He yells out in surprise, and grabs the edge of the the hole before he can fall. Not seconds later, that stone gives way, and Link falls. He looks down below, and notices ground rapidly approaching. He positions himself into sort of a dive position and readies. Upon contact, Link buckles his arms and rolls forward to his feet. He stands up and dusts off. Moving his hands and wrists around, he realizes they're unaffected. Suddenly, the new room he's in lights up. He puls out his sword & shield and glances around the circular room several times. Nothing. He then notices a figure appearing on one end: Zelda, on her knees. "Zelda!" He cries out to her.

He starts running toward her. As he gets close, Zelda glances up and notices him. "Link! Stop!" She yells.

Link abruptly stops his run and skids to a stop within feet of Zelda. As he does, a small wall of fire raises and cuts him off from her. He backs up, and the fire descends. Zelda looks up to him, a panicked look in her face. Link the notices odd, purple, glowing chains holding her to the ground. He then hears sounds from around the room. He glances behind him, and sees more of the Smashers appearing around the room: Kirby, Ness, Donkey Kong, & the Ice Climbers. They are all chained down in the same fashion. He walks over to Donkey Kong, activating the same flame shield. He backs away, and the fire dies. DK looks up to him, and just shakes his head. "Come on, DK. Break the chains. You're strong enough." Link says.

"It's no use. These chains drain our energy. We're stuck." DK replies.

"You're the only one who can get us out, Link!" Kirby yells out from across the room.

"But... How?" Link asks.

"The Hands... They have a test... But you have to be careful, because they-" Zelda says, her sentence cut off by a large shockwave.

On the far side of the room, where no smashers are chained down, the stone wall begins rising. A booming voice can then be heard. "ThIs Is YoUr TeSt Of DaRkNeSs, LiNk! WiN, aNd YoUr FrIeNdS aRe OuT oF tHe VoId. LoSe, AnD yOu WiLl JoIn ThEm!" The voice says, obviously belonging to Crazy Hand.

The wall stops opening, and two figures begin coming in. One is an odd dinosaur-like skeleton, holding a mace. The other, a creature in a bright-colored hooded robe, weilding two flaming blades. "What? A Stalfos and a Garo Master?" Link says, confused.

"Yes, Link! The Hands got some of the beasts from Hyrule and Termina!" Zelda says.

"Well I've beaten them before, and I can beat them again!" Link says, readying his sword.

The Garo Master laughs, and then jumps into the air and vanishes. Link glances quickly around him with his eyes, spotting the Garo reappearing. He quickly shields, evading both swords. He swings in a counterattack, but the Garo jumps backward, narrowly dodging. It then begins bouncing around in a half-circle motion, eyeing Link. Link watches it, waiting for its next move. It speeds forward and slashes, but Link blocks with his sword. Link then slashes the sword, knocking the Garo for a loop. It shakes the attack off, and stands puzzled at how Link could pull off such a move. Link himself then goes on the offensive, slashing at the Garo Master, who disappears. Link glances around, but then hears something behind him. He turns around to the Stalfos, who is swinging toward with its mace. Link backflips, and the mace slams the ground, causing a loud booming sound. The Garo Master then appears behind Link and slashes, knocking him to the ground. "Oh no! This is unfair!" Ness says.

"Link can take it! We'll all be able to leave soon..." Popo remarks.

The Stalfos lifts its mace above its head and gets ready to attack again. Link clenches his fists tighter, obviously angry. He rolls forward, underneath the Stalfos, and to his feet. The Stalfos looks down, wondering where Link went. The Master Sword then becomes enveloped in a yellow glow. Link swings underhand, completely bisecting the Stalfos. The Stalfos' head goes flying behind him, and the mace crashes to the ground. The rest of its body disintigrates. The Garo Master lets out a cry of surprise. Link smirks, and charges it. It disappears, as Link anticipated. Link closes his eyes and concentrates. As the other Smashers watch, Link suddenly spins around and slashes, slicing the reappearing Garo Master clean in half. It screams out in pain, and disintigrates. Link then hears the sound of something shattering. He glances behind him, spotting Kirby. The chains binding him have shattered upon the death of the Garo Master. "Yay, go Link!" Kirby says, as he disappears in particles of white light.

Ah, so I free one of my friends when I defeat an enemy. But wait... How come... Link thinks to himself.

He turns around, looking at the Stalfos' head. It turns and glances at him, growling. It then begins rising in green fire, its body regenerating. It then reaches down and grabs its mace. It then starts coming toward Link again. Link charges the slow skeleton beast, and slashes at its body. It comes down with its mace, missing. Link then makes a hard slash at its arm, cutting it off. It backs up in surprise, and Link slashes again, taking off its head. The body disintigrates once again. The head begins bouncing around, and tries to hit Link. Link just kicks it away, and then grabs its mace. The Stalfos head jumps right side up, and sees Link with the mace. It yelps out in surprise as Link slams the mace down, obliterating it. Over on another side of the room, Ness watches as his dark bindings shatter. "You did it Link, you did it!" He happily states before dissipating.

"Now who's next?!" Link yells out, looking at the opening in the wall.

Donkey Kong, Popo, and Nana cheer. "Way to go, Link!" Nana yells.

"Bring them on!" Donkey Kong says.

Zelda simply smiles. Out from the doorway come two more skeleton figures, one a bit taller than the other. Link quickly recognizes them. "You two? You're Igos' henchmen!"

"That's right! And we meet you again!" The shorter one exclaims.

"So where is your King? Couldn't attend?" Link asks.

"He wasn't swayed by the Hand's offerings. But we, on the other hand..." The tall one answers.

"Traitors." Link says.

"Call us what you wish, but the outcome of this battle will not be different!" The short one says.

"I agree." Link remarks, suddenly lunging the Stalfos' mace toward him.

The short one is clocked by the mace, and he flies backward. The taller angrily speeds toward Link, attempting a jumping slash. Link sidesteps, and comes up with his blade. The henchman backs up and tries again, but Link is quicker. He throws the skeleton for a loop with several swipes of the Master Sword, before knocking him on his back with an overhead slash. As he does, he spots the shorter henchman jump toward him. Link rolls out of the way and back to his feet, and attacks. Surprisingly, the henchman blocks, and attacks. The attack sends Link sliding back several feet. Link glances up, surprised. The taller of the henchman jumps to his feet, and the two speed toward Link with amazing speed. They both strike, sending Link flying back toward the wall opening. A giant wall of fire rises up, which Link hits. He yells out in pain. "Oh no!" Popo yells.

"Link, break away!" Nana yells out.

Link falls forward, off the fire wall. He gets up to his feet, and sees the two henchman laughing. "So the Hands gave you extra power, I see." Link says, smirking.

The henchman quickly stop laughing. They know it's true. Link chuckles, and raises his sword. It begins glowing in a yellow aura. The two skeletons speed toward Link. Without warning, Link spins around with a violent sword spin attack, striking both of them numerous times. He stops, and the two skeletons regain their composure. The taller one glances angrily at Link, and attacks. Link moves, and the henchman strikes the shorter of the two instead. He falls backward. "GAH! You idiot!" He says.

"Oh, that wouldn't have hurt if you weren't so feeble!" The taller one exclaims.

"I told you to NEVER CALL ME THAT!" The short one says, striking the tall one.

The two growl at each other, ready to attack. "Okay, so you'd rather defeat yourselves, or should I go ahead and complete the job?" Link says.

The two look over at him, and charge. Link holds his sword in the air, and it flashes with a blinding light. "AH! No! Not the light!" The shorter henchman cries.

The two block their eyes from the light and slowly back away. Link takes an attack of opportunity and slices downward, bisecting the shorter henchman with his lighted sword. The skeleton screams as the light from the sword burns him away, the taller one watching in shock. The chains binding the Ice Climbers shatter, and they disappear, all the while dancing in celebration. "You will pay for that!!!" The remaining henchman yells.

Link says nothing, and just makes the "Come on!" gesture. The skeleton envelopes his sword in dark energy and speeds toward Link, slashing. Link lifts his sword, stopping the shot. He then knocks the sword out of the henchman's hand with his shield, and makes a horizontal slash, chopping him in half. The skeleton falls to the ground in a heap and tries to re-adjust. Link backflips away, and pulls out a light arrow. The skeleton sees it, and gulps. Link fires it, hitting the henchman and disintigrating him. This frees Donkey Kong, who disappears while beating his chest in celebration. Link glances back at Zelda, who has a proud smile. "You're out of there next. Then we can leave this dump." Link says.

He soon hears something approaching. Something big. He backs away from the large entryway and prepares. What he sees next is shocking. A giant human-like beast with strange skin, wearing a tribal mask, and weilding a large sword. "What... Odolwa?" Link states.

The Hands corrupted Odolwa? Zelda thinks to herself.

Crazy Hand then begins speaking through Odolwa. "ThIs BaTtLe EnDs HeRe!" He says.

CH-Odolwa begins walking toward Link. Link starts backing away, while trying to think of a plan of attack. Well I beat Odolwa before with arrows... But maybe Crazy Hand anticipates that. Oh well, it's the only chance I've got right now. He ponders.

Link hits the wall. He has backed up as far as he can go. CH-Odolwa slashes downward with his big sword. Link rolls to the left to dodge, while readying his bow. He jumps to his feet, arrow ready, and fires. CH-Odolwa turns toward him to see the arrow approaching. Link is stunned when CH-Odolwa swings his sword upward and deflects the arrow away. "YoUr TaCtIcS wOn'T wOrK tHiS tImE, lInK!" CH-Odolwa says, attacking again.

Link manages to sidestep, but is thrown to the ground from the aftershock of the sword's impact. CH-Odolwa comes down again, but Link rolls out of the way. He jumps to his feet and dashes toward CH-Odolwa's legs. Before he can reach them, he is struck by the massive sword. He hits the stone wall several feet away and slices back to ground. Zelda gasps. Link stands back up, obviously a bit shaken. CH-Odolwa starts walking toward him, laughing the whole way. Link pulls out his bow. CH-Odolwa notices and stops advancing, and laughs harder. "I tOlD yOu ThIs WoUlDn'T wOrK!" He boasts.

Link just smiles, and pulls back the arrow: A light arrow. The light activates with a flash, momentarily blinding CH-Odolwa. He fires the light arrow, striking CH-Odolwa and stunning him with the magic power of the arrow. Link's sword then glows with the light of his Triforce crest, and he leaps high into the air, aiming a slash at Odolwa's head. Before he can pull off his attack, he is struck hard by CH-Odolwa's massive sword. The attack sends him flying across the giant room, and into the fire shield blocking the large doorway. "NO!" Zelda yells out, as she watches from not far away.

Link screams as the fire burns him, but he breaks away and falls back to ground. He stands up slowly, and looks at his sword. The light fades away. All the fighting has drained him. He looks up, just in time to see CH-Odolwa's sword. The sword bludgeons Link with vicious force, slamming him back against the flame wall, and nearly cutting him clean in half. Zelda looks on, a tear rolling down her cheek. Link slumps over the sword, as the Master Sword & Hylian Shield fall from his hands and clang onto the stone below. At the same time, Zelda's tear strikes the ground. CH-Odolwa pulls his blade away, and Link falls back to ground, unconscious. CH-Odolwa begins a menacing laugh that seems to bounce around in an echo all across the circular room. "It Is OvEr!!! ThE hErO oF tImE iS fInIsHeD!!!" He yells.

He glances over toward Zelda, whose head is down, tears staining the ground below her. "DoN't Be So SaD... yOu'Ll BoTh Be ToGeThEr As YoU lIvE oUt YoUr ExIsTeNcEs HeRe In ThE vOiD..." He states.

Zelda pays no attention, as she is concentrating. Attempting to summon up some magic power, despite the power of the dark chains binding her in place. A last-ditch effort. CH-Odolwa approaches closer. "Oh CoMe On, PrInCeSs. DoEsN't ThAt ChEeR yOu Up A lItTlE?" He says, chuckling afterward.

Zelda opens her eyes and glances up. A bright flash lights up the room, turning it completely white for a moment. CH-Odolwa yells out in agony, as he falls backward gripping his eyes. The light flash turns into a glow around Zelda. The glow then lifts off into 3 balls of light, which reveal themselves to be fairies: One blue, one yellow, and one purple & red. They notice Zelda, weak, and go down to help, but are blocked by the fire shield. Zelda looks up to them. "Navi, Tatl, Tael... Don't. ... I'll... be okay. ... Link... you must save Link. ... He has to defeat... Odolwa..." She says, before slumping forward, exhausted.

The three fairies turn around and notice CH-Odolwa reeling from the flash, and Link lying unconscious. "Oh dear!" Navi says.

The three fairies fly over to Link and begin swirling around him, spreading powerful magic as they do. After a moment, they stop and wait. "Come on, get up!" Tael says.

Link suddenly opens his eyes, and the fairies dance around in rejoice. Link stands up and moves around. He is uninjured. He then glances up at the fairies. "Navi? Tatl? And you too, Tael? But... How did..." He says, surprised.

"We were all in Termina after you fought those fiends there." Tael states.

"A while after you all left, we spotted those Hands leading Odolwa to a portal." Tatl explains.

"We followed them, and found ourselves in the Dimensional Void. Not long later we found Zelda, and we've been with her." Navi says.

Link glances over to Zelda, who is unconscious. "Oh no!" He says.

"Don't worry. Her summoning us drained the last of her energy. She's fine." Tatl says.

"You have to worry about Odolwa. Hurry and defeat them so we can all leave!" Navi says, motioning toward Odolwa.

Link looks over, seeing CH-Odolwa rubbing his eyes. Link reaches down and grabs his gear. He straps his shield to his back and holds his sword out in front of him. It begins to glow bright with the power of Courage. A golden aura surrounds him as well. CH-Odolwa, finally regaining sight, sees Link standing there, the faeries above him. "WhAt?!?! ImPoSsIbLe!!" He yells.

Link begins running toward him. CH-Odolwa stands up and swings his sword at Link. Link swings back, knocking the sword out of CH-Odolwa's hand and clear across the room. CH-Odolwa backs up in shock. "ThIs Is NoT pOsSiBlE!" He says.

He then holds his arms out to each side, and flying insect creatures begin flying around him, and go into a swarm toward Link. Link thrusts his sword into the air above him, and lets out a field of energy, destroying the insects. CH-Odolwa looks on in horror. Link then forms the energy field into a blast, sending CH-Odolwa into the wall. CH-Odolwa finds himself almost unable to move. Link then lowers his sword, which is pulsing with energy. He charges toward CH-Odolwa, who is unable to defend himself. With one massive strike to the midsection, the Master Sword explodes with energy, shaking the entire complex, and sending CH-Odolwa straight through the stone wall, and into the darkness beyond. The aura around Link disappears, and he falls to his knees, short of breath. The three fairies fly over to him. "Are you alright?" Tatl asks.

"I'll be fine..." Link says, standing up.

"Hey! Look!" Tael says.

Link, Navi, and Tatl glance over. They watch as the chains holding down Zelda shatter. She then hovers in the air a bit, and then dissipates in particles of light. "It's over! You won, Link!" Navi says, cheerfully.

A high-pitched sound then fills the room, as a beam of clear white light shines down in the middle of the room. Link looks up at the fairies. "Come on. Let's get out of here." He says.

Link walks toward the beam of the light. The three fairies fly into it and float up it, disappearing at the top. Link steps into it, and feels the soothing effects of the light, healing his injuries and weariness. His feet then lift off the ground, as he begins ascending to the top of the beam. Soon, everything goes white...


THE END
Next: Chapter 31 - Roy's Test

Note: Chapters 29 through 32 happen simultaneously.