Disclaimer: Is it just me or this getting redundant...? Zelda, WW, and all
related characters are and always will be copyright of Nintendo. Unless
something happens that would make that untrue...which I hope never
happens...O_o
A/N: Bum bum bum! It all comes down to this! The final battle! Wheee! And boy is it a long one! Link does steal the spotlight in some spots during this chapter (and the next, but what did you expect really), but its nothing too big. It's still more focused on our princess just to let you know. And another warning...this chapter is ending on one seriously big cliffhanger, so prepare those ropes! (pun intended...I think...) Also, I did I guess what you would call a large change to how the battle is fought (believe me, you'll notice it immediately, however it does have most of the tactics used in the game). But like everything else, I have reasons that would make it somewhat true so it doesn't go against anything official. (it's a twist you might say...and I'm using too many parentheses aren't? .) Ok enough of my chatter. Let good versus evil commence! Enjoy!
Chapter 16: Fight for the Future
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The faint sound of distant thunder...
Though it was small and hardly worth a second thought, the low sound caught the attention of some of the many people and creatures that lived upon the Great Sea. The number of people who actually paid any heed to the distant noise grew in a few short minutes however, as the once small clouds on the horizon soon grew in size and strength quicker than anyone thought a storm could grow.
Rapidly, the wind picked up in all regions of the inhabited ocean. As it did so, it shuffled the leaves of an old tree that had a head carved into its base. On its face bore an expression of worry and despair...
At a different island, a great red dragon roared into the quickly darkening sky, signaling to the island's inhabitants that doom was approaching...
A young blond-headed girl looked on with great worry from the edge of an ocean bound ship, with several other men, short and tall, standing along side of her, each one baring the exact same expression...
All the people who lived on the Great Sea watched with confusion as the dark clouds began to block out the sun's rays, casting black shadows over everything, even things that were near a source of light. In only a few minutes, everything grew dark and cold...
The battle was about to begin...
~ ~ ~
As rain and mist soaked the three lone figures atop Ganon's Tower, the ancient kingdom of Hyrule slowly grew more and more aquatic. With each passing second, the once prosperous kingdom slipped even more under the slowly rising water, and if this went on long enough, the kingdom would soon be buried under the depths of the ocean along with anything and anyone that was unfortunate enough to still be in kingdom.
The rain and mist was reminding Princess Zelda of how little time her and Link had to defeat Ganondorf. From her position behind the new hero, the nervous girl looked up into the pounding rain, peering at the slightly faded sunlight that shone down to them through the only spot on the sea that the sun pierced through.
"Link." She whispered, inching a little bit closer to him. "We don't have much time before this whole place floods. We have to get this over with as quickly as possible." When she finished her sentence, Zelda looked over at the boy, expecting an answer.
But all she got was nothing. Link was too focused on Ganondorf to even mutter a response, and looked more as if he was having a staring contest with the evil man than getting ready to fight him. Either that or he fell asleep while standing up.
"Link, why are you not attacking him?" Zelda whispered, a little louder this time. She wasn't really a fighting expert, but she knew they couldn't defeat Ganon by staring at him! Every second mattered!
Link responded this time, but not in a way that she thought. Instead of speaking, he made a small motion for her to be silent without turning his head, keeping his eyes locked on to Ganondorf as if he was expecting some sort of sneak attack.
Zelda quickly hushed herself, and for a while nobody said or did anything except stare at one another.
That is, until Ganondorf suddenly disappeared in a puff of purple smoke!
Before Zelda even knew what had happened, she suddenly felt Link grab her arm and pull her into a run toward a random direction. It was a good thing to, because the spot they were previously standing on quickly erupted into a cloudy ball of shattered stone and rock! The resulting quake brought both Link and Zelda to the ground as the dust settled to reveal a big dent into the tower's top.
"What j-just happened?!" Zelda stuttered with shock.
Link once again didn't answer her verbally, and instead shot a look at Ganondorf who now stood at a completely different spot with one of his swords pointed at the piece of ground that exploded. A bit of smoke was trailing off the blade, as if the source of the explosion came directly from it.
"Shoot!" Link thought. "He's much faster than I thought he was!" He lowered his gaze, trying not to let the hopelessness of the fight show as he added in his head. "This isn't good..."
Ganondorf lowered his outstretched sword as a grin formed on his dark
face.
"I expected no less from the one chosen to replace the Hero of Time." He said in a somewhat deep voice.
Link didn't look fazed by his statement and quickly got back on his feet while helping Zelda stand up also.
"Ganondorf!" the boy called, sounding a little angry. "Your fight is with me! Leave Zelda out of this!"
Both Zelda and Ganondorf gave a slightly surprised look at the young
boy.
"What?" Zelda questioned. "But I thought..."
The dark fiend almost let out a laugh, then made a shrug.
"Very well then, boy." He muttered. "I'll kill you first so the princess may watch you die a slow and painful death."
Before Link could say anything back to him, Zelda quickly made herself known to the young boy.
"Link, I thought we were both going to fight him." She said persistently. "If I could just-"
"Zelda." he quickly responded, making her stop short and look at him. "This is a fierce opponent we're dealing with...and...I don't want you to get hurt. And besides..." he paused. "...if worse comes to worse, I've got some backup that will help out."
"But Link..." she persisted, not quite getting his last statement.
Before the boy could try and persuade her more, another loud cracking noise sounded through the air, grabbing both of their attention. Ganondorf had grown impatient with them already, and was beginning to unleash a whirl of tiny black and purple orbs of energy straight at them!
Link reacted in time and used his new mirror shield to block the orbs before they could hit either one of them. As the energy balls bounced right off the shield's shiny surface and shoot toward a different direction, Link quickly looked back at Zelda.
"Run!" he shouted over the loud bangs they were hearing from the
blasts.
Zelda spun around. "But Link!"
"Go! Now!" he shouted again, this time adding a slight push with his
free hand.
That was enough to get Zelda moving as she reluctantly ran further away from him and Ganondorf. When she felt she was a safe distance away, she quickly spun back around to watch what was going to happen.
When he felt Zelda was a good distance away from harm, Link grasped the Master Sword's hilt and listened intently for another one of Ganon's orbs to fly toward him. When he finally did, he quickly lowered his shield and timed it's impact. At the last possible moment, he slashed at the oncoming energy ball, which connected with his sword and went flying...straight back at Ganondorf!
A bang resulted as the orb smacked right into the fiend's face, releasing a billow of purple smoke and dust that temporarily blocked Ganondorf's presence with a wall of debris.
"Alright!" the princess of Hyrule called out loud. She'd be surprised if Ganondorf would still have a head after that backfire!
Link also looked pretty pleased himself.
As soon as the smoke cleared however, both of their expressions
dropped.
Ganondorf was still in tact and not a scratch was on him. Only an evil smile was left on his otherwise unharmed head. Not even his clothes got damaged!
"I must say, you've got guts, boy." He said. "You're pulling the same stunt as the hero of old did many years ago." He paused in what appeared to be in thought before he continued. "It must be quite difficult for you to handle my magic so directly."
"Tell you what, young so-called hero..." he said, lifting the two long swords at his side. "...I'll use no more spells or magic and we'll duel with the sword and soul." He grinned at the boy again and asked. "What say you?"
Link hesitated a moment, thinking this was some sort of trick; but he found no obvious downside to the suggestion when he thought about it. He did have a fully powered Master Sword also. But what kind of advantage could Ganon possibly hope to gain from just using swords?
Oh well...its Ganon's loss.
"Alright. A fight with the sword it is." He replied. "But
remember...no magic!"
No one could see it but Princess Zelda made a frown from afar.
"Oh yeah, like he'll keep his word..." she thought. "Don't fall
for it, Link!"
Ganondorf made a creepy smile.
"Then let's get started...O Hero of Winds!"
And with that, Ganondorf made a tremendous leap into the now pouring rain, flinging raindrops in every direction as he pointed both his swords downward in an attempt to drive them down into Link's skull.
Luckily, Link rolled out of harms way in time and Ganon's sword's drilled straight into the stone floor, giving him enough time to sprint behind the man and slash at his open spot. Before he could do that however, Ganon took one of his hands, spun around, and swatted the boy away, leaving him enough time to get his swords free and charge straight at him!
Link responded quickly yet again and took this opportunity to try an aerial attack. As Ganondorf came down with his swords, he leapt into the air high enough to get above his head and with a yell, Link brought his sword down toward the evil man's head!
A clank suddenly sounded, and Zelda watched on with anxiousness. Ganon just lifted his two swords in a crisscross pattern, creating another block for Link's attack.
Nether side was about to give up now though, and as soon as Link landed back on the wet floor, he prepared another attack for when Ganondorf had his shot at him.
The two went at each other in this manner for a decent amount of time, exchanging attacks, trading blows, and pretty much canceling each other's attacks without any of them dealing any damage. As she watched, the Princess of Hyrule couldn't believe how evenly matched they were! But...something was puzzling her...
"Why did Ganondorf want a plain old sword fight?" she wondered silently. "He knows that the Master Sword is the only sword that can defeat him, and with Link fighting him at the level he is, he should at least be a little worried about getting injured. So why...why is he continuing to duel with Link when they aren't even dealing each other any damage? What is his hoping for?"
As she pondered this for a couple seconds while watching Link retaliate from a downward slash from the dark man, something caught her eye that perhaps only her and Ganondorf had seen.
Link's reaction time to Ganon's attack wasn't as quick as usual and once he stopped moving for a moment, she could see that Link was breathing pretty rapidly.
Suddenly, the princess knew what the fiend's plan was.
"Link!" she hollered over the endless rain, grabbing his attention. "It's Ganondorf! He's trying to tire you out until you make a mistake!"
Upon hearing this, the young hero took one look at the evil man and performed a back flip to create some distance between them. He glared at the man and tensed back up when another creepy grin formed on his opponents face.
"She's right you know." Ganon said, his tone making it sound like it was too obvious. He lowered his swords and the fight seemed to halt for a time; at least until he made his point.
"It was a mistake to allow yourself to become a hero, boy." He said grinning. "You may have some slight skill in the ways of the sword...but without the strength of the body, you will only end up exhausting yourself until you have nothing left to give." He made a snicker and turned his palms up while still holding his weapons to catch a couple of the raindrops. "As you can see, your precious kingdom is already doomed. So why fight a battle you know is for nothing?"
Link just straightened up and took this time to take a breather.
"You're wrong, Ganondorf." He retaliated. "This fight is to ensure a future of peace and happiness; one that does not have suffering and pain." He pointed his glowing sword at him. "By removing you and anything else like you from the picture, such a future can be made possible! And if you think I'm going to give up...your dead wrong!" He lowered his head to emphasis his seriousness and added. "I'll NEVER give up!"
"Tell him, Link!" Zelda cheered quietly, making sure not to draw too much attention to herself.
Ganondorf must have had a deep hatred for stubbornness, and anger quickly started to show in his eyes.
"You are just a mere child!" he shouted, his grip tightening on his sword's hilts. "Your title means nothing! You may have the legendary blade of evil's bane, but that alone will never be enough to defeat me!"
"Say what you want!" Link retorted. "I will not rest until you are defeated, once and for all!"
With his anger now even more fueled, Ganondorf got a burst of energy and charged straight at Link faster than the eye could see!
Link almost didn't react in time, but luckily his reflexes took control and he inadvertently lifted the Master Sword horizontally. Ganon's two long sword's came down on the shimmering blade, resulting in a loud clank that echoed throughout the flooding kingdom. They then started to tremble as Ganondorf added more force to try and drive the blades down on Link's head.
The hero used all the strength he could muster to keep the sword's from reaching his skull and he tightened his grip even harder when the added pressure started to make his wrist sore. To add more strength to his sword, he took his mirror shield in his right hand and held it in front of his bending form. He pushed it against the Master Sword and added more resistance to Ganondorf's twin blades, thus making it easier for him to keep them away from his head.
"Face it, boy!" Ganondorf said through gritted teeth. "You, along with everything else you hold dear will fall under the darkness I've already cast! Surrender now, and I just might consider letting you and your pathetic princess live."
Link's eyes narrowed through his tensed expression.
"Never..." he spat quietly.
Ganondorf kept his red eyes locked onto the young boy's face as he grew more and more annoyed with his determination. They stayed like that for a couple more seconds, frozen as if time just halted its never-ending flow.
Before the moment lingered too long however, Ganondorf suddenly eased the added force on his blade, and took half a step back as if something just struck his mind that he never thought of before. He lowered his head as his two blades rested at his sides, his face unseen to Link. He remained erringly quiet during the whole scene and soon nothing could be heard except the rain and light thunder.
Finding his behavior somewhat odd, Link lowered his shield and the Master Sword and looked at him with a confused face. Did he finally get the hint?
Zelda thought Ganon's actions were puzzling as well.
...almost too puzzling...
"What is he doing? He's just standing there like an idiot, wide open for attack." She thought. "...what is he up to..."
Suddenly, even from her spot some distance away, Zelda caught the faintest hint of Ganondorf snickering under his shadowed face. She quickly tensed up.
"LINK! LOOK OUT!"
...but she wasn't quick enough...
Before the boy could figure out what she was talking about, he suddenly felt a coursing pain run through his stomach, forcing him to cry out and tighten his eyes shut in agony. He felt the rest of his body fly backwards from the force that came with the sneak attack and he tumbled on the wet stone flooring before skidding to a halt in a large puddle of water.
Zelda put a hand over her mouth as she watched Ganondorf retract his extended foot and start to walking over to the boy's figure, who was now laying on his side and holding his stomach with the hand that use to wield his shield.
As the King of Evil reached the small hero, he looked down at him with a half evil half pitiful look on his face.
"I tried to warn you, foolish boy..." he muttered, as Link made a couple quiet moans. Standing next to his body, the man pulled back his foot and kicked the boy hard in the back, sending him on another short flight across the waterlogged battlefield.
This time, Link's scream was even louder and landed hard on his side before coming to a halt. He lost his grip on the Master Sword upon impact, and it fell to the ground about a foot away from his head.
"No! Link!" Zelda called as she watched him lay on the cold, wet ground, panting and trying to tolerate the aching in his back and stomach. With him unable to fight back and with Ganondorf walking toward him again, she couldn't help but fear for his life and she began to run toward him, anxious to get there before Ganondorf did.
"Hold on, Link! I'm coming!" she called as she quickly closed the gap between herself and his sprawled body.
Just when she was about to reach him however, a sword planted itself in between her and Link and she skidded to a halt on the slippery ground. She froze as she looked up to see that Ganondorf had beaten her.
"You stay out of this!" he quickly said. Lifting the sword he used to stop her with, he turned the sword on its dull end and hit her right across her body, sending her back to where she was previously.
Princess Zelda yelled a little as she hurdled through the air and landed on her side with a small splash, a little bruised, but mostly unharmed.
With her out of the way, Link was left wide open for Ganondorf to do anything his black heart desired, and so he took the same sword he used against Zelda and pointed it down at the young hero.
"This is the end, boy..." he said in a deep evil voice that could only be his. "This was over before it even started, and now..." he paused and formed an evil smile. "...you will die here..."
Link managed to open his eyes and squinted up at him, completely helpless to do anything because his body still hadn't recovered from the man's sneak attack. He could only watch as Ganondorf began to pull a stunt that Link was all too familiar with.
The fiend slowly started to lift one of his swords, raindrops trickling off its sharp blade as if it was drooling for the taste of first blood.
Link tried to move, for he knew what the man was planning to do with that weapon. When he did however, he was suddenly overcome by a stinging feeling which crippled him into not moving.
With his sword now fully over his head, Ganon made another sneer at the young boy in green and slowly uttered the words...
"Farewell...foolish boy."
Link quickly tightened his eyes shut as Ganon started to bring his sword down, expecting extreme pain to follow.
But instead of feeling pain, he suddenly heard a familiar zing, followed by a yell and a resulting flash of light that filled his black vision!
Immediately, Link opened his eyes, which widened with surprise once he saw what was before him.
Ganondorf no longer had his sword raised and instead his form was arched back with these small yellow streams of what looked like lightning running all over his body. Not an inch of him was moving except for whatever moved slightly when he breathed. Whatever hit him had put some sort of paralyzing effect on him.
Link knew that he couldn't have done that by accident. In fact, he had seen that form of attack before and it required the use of his bow and arrow.
Suddenly finding the strength to prop himself up, his eyes quickly trailed around the arena, looking for the only other person that could have pulled a stunt like that.
Finally, he spotted her. Standing some distance away with a notched arrow that had its tip glowing, along with a bow aimed right at Ganondorf...was Zelda. She had secretly taken Link's bow and arrows when he wasn't looking, and now she was finally helping out like she wanted to in the first place.
"That was for hitting me earlier!" she shouted, before glancing over to Link. "Quick!" she hollered. "Hit him now while he's stunned!"
"Right!" Link called back. Suddenly finding the energy in him returning, he quickly got to his feet while grabbing the Master Sword off the ground. With one burst of energy, the hero charged straight at the still paralyzed Ganondorf, intent on giving him serious payback for pulling a sneak attack on him.
As Link pulled back and swung the Master Sword over his head, the paralyzing effects on Ganondorf grew weaker, giving the evil king enough time to sidestep out of the way before the Master Sword sliced open his side. However, his movement was slow since the paralysis was not fully gone and the legendary blade singed his heavily-clothed right arm, cutting through the tough fabric like it was butter and forming a decent cut on his left arm.
Link quickly spun around to face his opponent, observing him as the last bit of paralysis wore off. He was staring at his new wound, which by now was showing only the faintest trace of blood.
"You will pay for that!" Ganondorf suddenly yelled as he spun around and lunged straight at Link!
The young hero held up his sword to block, but again, another bright flash occurred and Ganondorf suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Zelda had shot another what she called a Light arrow before the fiend reached the boy, giving Link yet another chance to get a hit in.
And hit he did, for as soon as he could see again, the Hero of Winds took advantage of Ganon's open front and charged toward his bent form. He leapt through the air and did one large thrust toward Ganondorf's shoulder, deeply cutting it and even causing the fiend to let out a yell!
"Alright!" cheered Zelda. "A couple more of those and he'll be history in no time!" Immediately, she prepared another arrow, in case Ganon went on another rampage. Quite frankly, she wasn't sure what kind of effect these shining arrows would have on the evil king, but she figured Link wouldn't carry around glowing arrows just because they were pretty and knew they had some sort of usefulness. Besides, who knew she had such good aim, and now that she knew they paralyzed evil itself, she wasn't going to let them go to waste!
Ganondorf had already recovered from both the paralysis and the injury, and was now steaming mad that the two runts were suddenly gaining the upper hand. He may have been the King of Evil, but even he could not divide his attention between two separate targets.
The man shot a furious look at Link, and then at Zelda, once the princess suddenly started to speak.
"Not what you expected, ay Ganondorf?" she said with a sneaky smile. "You may have more stamina and speed than we do, but with both of us working together, your not even able to fight back!"
Ganondorf was now even more raged than he was before, and his fists tightened more over the handles of his twin blades.
"Silence, you pathetic child!" he shouted over to her. "You may outnumber me two to one, but both of you are still no match for my superior skill and might!"
Almost right after he said this, he heard a small laugh from behind him and quickly glared back at the owner.
"I guess those two hits from the Light arrows didn't give you a good enough hint." Link said. "Just how do you plan to fight me, and at the same time dodge Zelda's shots, huh?" he finished, giving a look at Ganondorf that demanded an answer.
His smirk quickly faded however, when the King of Evil made a sneaky grin of his own instead of an angry one that he expected.
Zelda didn't like that look either, and watched as the heavily clothed villain shook his head.
"You two cannot even begin to comprehend the full extend of my abilities." he stated deeply. "Just because you've managed to give me only superficial wounds, does not mean that you can claim victory. This fight has only just begun..."
"Then why don't we just cut the talk and finish this already?!" called an impatient Zelda.
The man slowly glanced over at her. "As you wish...
...dear princess!"
Suddenly, Ganondorf disappeared!
Link and Zelda quickly tensed up with cautious and shock. They quickly scanned the soaked battlefield for any sign of the dark fiend, but not a trace of him remained except the bit of water that splashed up when he vanished.
Suddenly, Link shouted over the loud pouring rain!
"ZELDA! LOOK OUT!"
Zelda quickly spun around in all directions to try and see what to look out for, and she inadvertently looked up, only to find Ganondorf dropping out of the sky toward where she was standing, swords first!
Without even thinking, she sprinted in a random direction with only one thought in her mind, and that was to get out of the way! Luckily she noticed him in time, and she managed to slip out of range before Ganon landed and drilled his swords into the ground, rather than her skull.
Zelda didn't stop running. She knew she had to get a good distance away from him in order to properly use the Light arrows, and though she may have gotten most of her bold attitude back, she was still a little frightened by this man's power and abilities.
"Curse these heels!" she thought, suddenly finding it hard to run in them. When she finally thought she was a good enough distance away from him, Zelda quickly stopped and turned around to confirm Ganondorf's whereabouts.
Instead of finding him where she previously was however, she found him soaring through air as if he was flying, right toward her!
She gasped in horror and quickly spun back around to run away again. But this time, the slippery ground caused her to stumble and trip right over the hem of her long dress, making her fall to the ground and land in a large puddle with a splash.
Immediately she propped herself up and tried to scramble back to her feet to continue her run, but suddenly found that she couldn't move forward. Something was suddenly keeping her pinned to the ground by the tip of her dress! She quickly looked behind her and saw that Ganondorf was stepping on it with one of his feet, a large frown crossing his dark face.
"You can't keep running away from me, princess." he muttered with annoyance. He quickly raised one of his long swords and said. "This will teach you not to interfere with my reign!"
Princess Zelda quickly shut her eyes as Ganondorf brought his blade down, only for it to be met by the Master Sword!
Both Ganondorf and Zelda quickly looked over to Link, as the boy used all his might to keep the sword from coming down on the princess. The Hero of Winds did a mighty push to the sword to get Ganon's foot off her dress and then shouted to her.
"Run!" he said.
Without even hesitating, the young girl scrambled out of the way, giving Link and Ganondorf more space to fight. Once she was out of the way, Link took the opportunity to try and get another hit in. Rolling to one side, the boy hero made a mighty slash to Ganondorf's left flank, making a huge cut along the fiend's side!
The boy jumped back as Ganondorf flailed his head and let out a painful yell, swinging his swords about and flinging water in every direction. When he finally stopped, the man quickly turned to face the boy.
"You will regret doing that, boy!" he shouted.
Link crouched a little to get ready for an oncoming attack. But Ganondorf didn't lunge at him like he expected...
...instead, he turned back around and jumped high into air, landing exactly in the middle of the arena and far away from both Link and Princess Zelda.
"What's he doing?" Zelda wondered. She watched with curiosity from her spot not too far from Link, slowly preparing another arrow in case the King of Evil was about to pull a fast one on them.
But what happened next was something both Link and Zelda didn't expect
at all.
Ganondorf took both his blades and held them horizontally in mid-air, pointing them directly at Link. The tips of the swords then suddenly began to glow with this strange blue aura, which quickly wrapped itself over the entire blade and even Ganondorf's hands.
Link and Zelda's eyes went large, when they suddenly realized what he was about to do.
Before either of them could do anything, the blue glow churned greatly and a large beam of white magic shot right out of the blades themselves, cutting through the air and rain like it was nothing! The loud sound it was making as it flew through the air was enough to wake up the dead, and the ground beneath it literally crumbled in its wake!
And it was heading straight for Link.
The boy didn't know what to do to counter this sort of attack, and his first instinct was to try and block it somehow. In a split second, he raised his mirror shield and planted his feet for impact, right before the blast rammed itself into him!
With a bang, the beam crashed into his shield, exploding on contact and flinging dust and smoke in all the directions. The tremendous force not only threw dust everywhere, but it was also so great that Link couldn't keep his footing! The strength of the blast was too much for the boy to hold back and he was immediately launched backwards and hurled through the air like a rag doll.
"Link!" Zelda cried as she watched him land right on his side and bounce a couple of times before he stopped.
He remained still for a short while, but didn't stay down long and slowly started to stand back up. But...as soon as he did, another large energy ball came careening toward him again; and this time, it was too late for him to block!
This one wasn't aimed well however and it blew up right next to him instead of directly on top of him. But the explosion itself was still enough to knock Link off his feet and he flew sideways through the air, landing even further away from where he was previously. He suddenly felt pain shoot through his tiny body and he cried out in agony, hoping it would stop.
"Stop it!" the princess shouted. "That's enough! He can't fight back!" she shouted, more so to Ganondorf than to herself.
The man ignored her pleas and charged up another ball of magic, which he fired again at the young hero before he could even retaliate. The beam hit the ground in front Link this time and he was sent straight up into the air before landing hard on his back not too far from Zelda.
"NO!" the princess cried.
Link was now even more battered and bruised than he was before. But despite his slight burns and scrapes, he somehow got back on his feet; just in time to see yet another white beam coming at him, this one aimed to perfection and intent on ending his life in one big bang! His eyes grew huge and his body stiffened as the beams bright glow suddenly engulfed his vision.
He could feel immense heat coming from the blast as it just about reached his face, forcing his mouth to open wide with shock.
But...just when the hero thought for sure he would die...when everything around him went completely white...he faintly heard a voice cry over the loud noise of the oncoming blast.
"LINK!!!"
...and that was the last thing he heard before everything went
white...
A/N: Bum bum bum! It all comes down to this! The final battle! Wheee! And boy is it a long one! Link does steal the spotlight in some spots during this chapter (and the next, but what did you expect really), but its nothing too big. It's still more focused on our princess just to let you know. And another warning...this chapter is ending on one seriously big cliffhanger, so prepare those ropes! (pun intended...I think...) Also, I did I guess what you would call a large change to how the battle is fought (believe me, you'll notice it immediately, however it does have most of the tactics used in the game). But like everything else, I have reasons that would make it somewhat true so it doesn't go against anything official. (it's a twist you might say...and I'm using too many parentheses aren't? .) Ok enough of my chatter. Let good versus evil commence! Enjoy!
Chapter 16: Fight for the Future
----------------------------------------------------
The faint sound of distant thunder...
Though it was small and hardly worth a second thought, the low sound caught the attention of some of the many people and creatures that lived upon the Great Sea. The number of people who actually paid any heed to the distant noise grew in a few short minutes however, as the once small clouds on the horizon soon grew in size and strength quicker than anyone thought a storm could grow.
Rapidly, the wind picked up in all regions of the inhabited ocean. As it did so, it shuffled the leaves of an old tree that had a head carved into its base. On its face bore an expression of worry and despair...
At a different island, a great red dragon roared into the quickly darkening sky, signaling to the island's inhabitants that doom was approaching...
A young blond-headed girl looked on with great worry from the edge of an ocean bound ship, with several other men, short and tall, standing along side of her, each one baring the exact same expression...
All the people who lived on the Great Sea watched with confusion as the dark clouds began to block out the sun's rays, casting black shadows over everything, even things that were near a source of light. In only a few minutes, everything grew dark and cold...
The battle was about to begin...
~ ~ ~
As rain and mist soaked the three lone figures atop Ganon's Tower, the ancient kingdom of Hyrule slowly grew more and more aquatic. With each passing second, the once prosperous kingdom slipped even more under the slowly rising water, and if this went on long enough, the kingdom would soon be buried under the depths of the ocean along with anything and anyone that was unfortunate enough to still be in kingdom.
The rain and mist was reminding Princess Zelda of how little time her and Link had to defeat Ganondorf. From her position behind the new hero, the nervous girl looked up into the pounding rain, peering at the slightly faded sunlight that shone down to them through the only spot on the sea that the sun pierced through.
"Link." She whispered, inching a little bit closer to him. "We don't have much time before this whole place floods. We have to get this over with as quickly as possible." When she finished her sentence, Zelda looked over at the boy, expecting an answer.
But all she got was nothing. Link was too focused on Ganondorf to even mutter a response, and looked more as if he was having a staring contest with the evil man than getting ready to fight him. Either that or he fell asleep while standing up.
"Link, why are you not attacking him?" Zelda whispered, a little louder this time. She wasn't really a fighting expert, but she knew they couldn't defeat Ganon by staring at him! Every second mattered!
Link responded this time, but not in a way that she thought. Instead of speaking, he made a small motion for her to be silent without turning his head, keeping his eyes locked on to Ganondorf as if he was expecting some sort of sneak attack.
Zelda quickly hushed herself, and for a while nobody said or did anything except stare at one another.
That is, until Ganondorf suddenly disappeared in a puff of purple smoke!
Before Zelda even knew what had happened, she suddenly felt Link grab her arm and pull her into a run toward a random direction. It was a good thing to, because the spot they were previously standing on quickly erupted into a cloudy ball of shattered stone and rock! The resulting quake brought both Link and Zelda to the ground as the dust settled to reveal a big dent into the tower's top.
"What j-just happened?!" Zelda stuttered with shock.
Link once again didn't answer her verbally, and instead shot a look at Ganondorf who now stood at a completely different spot with one of his swords pointed at the piece of ground that exploded. A bit of smoke was trailing off the blade, as if the source of the explosion came directly from it.
"Shoot!" Link thought. "He's much faster than I thought he was!" He lowered his gaze, trying not to let the hopelessness of the fight show as he added in his head. "This isn't good..."
Ganondorf lowered his outstretched sword as a grin formed on his dark
face.
"I expected no less from the one chosen to replace the Hero of Time." He said in a somewhat deep voice.
Link didn't look fazed by his statement and quickly got back on his feet while helping Zelda stand up also.
"Ganondorf!" the boy called, sounding a little angry. "Your fight is with me! Leave Zelda out of this!"
Both Zelda and Ganondorf gave a slightly surprised look at the young
boy.
"What?" Zelda questioned. "But I thought..."
The dark fiend almost let out a laugh, then made a shrug.
"Very well then, boy." He muttered. "I'll kill you first so the princess may watch you die a slow and painful death."
Before Link could say anything back to him, Zelda quickly made herself known to the young boy.
"Link, I thought we were both going to fight him." She said persistently. "If I could just-"
"Zelda." he quickly responded, making her stop short and look at him. "This is a fierce opponent we're dealing with...and...I don't want you to get hurt. And besides..." he paused. "...if worse comes to worse, I've got some backup that will help out."
"But Link..." she persisted, not quite getting his last statement.
Before the boy could try and persuade her more, another loud cracking noise sounded through the air, grabbing both of their attention. Ganondorf had grown impatient with them already, and was beginning to unleash a whirl of tiny black and purple orbs of energy straight at them!
Link reacted in time and used his new mirror shield to block the orbs before they could hit either one of them. As the energy balls bounced right off the shield's shiny surface and shoot toward a different direction, Link quickly looked back at Zelda.
"Run!" he shouted over the loud bangs they were hearing from the
blasts.
Zelda spun around. "But Link!"
"Go! Now!" he shouted again, this time adding a slight push with his
free hand.
That was enough to get Zelda moving as she reluctantly ran further away from him and Ganondorf. When she felt she was a safe distance away, she quickly spun back around to watch what was going to happen.
When he felt Zelda was a good distance away from harm, Link grasped the Master Sword's hilt and listened intently for another one of Ganon's orbs to fly toward him. When he finally did, he quickly lowered his shield and timed it's impact. At the last possible moment, he slashed at the oncoming energy ball, which connected with his sword and went flying...straight back at Ganondorf!
A bang resulted as the orb smacked right into the fiend's face, releasing a billow of purple smoke and dust that temporarily blocked Ganondorf's presence with a wall of debris.
"Alright!" the princess of Hyrule called out loud. She'd be surprised if Ganondorf would still have a head after that backfire!
Link also looked pretty pleased himself.
As soon as the smoke cleared however, both of their expressions
dropped.
Ganondorf was still in tact and not a scratch was on him. Only an evil smile was left on his otherwise unharmed head. Not even his clothes got damaged!
"I must say, you've got guts, boy." He said. "You're pulling the same stunt as the hero of old did many years ago." He paused in what appeared to be in thought before he continued. "It must be quite difficult for you to handle my magic so directly."
"Tell you what, young so-called hero..." he said, lifting the two long swords at his side. "...I'll use no more spells or magic and we'll duel with the sword and soul." He grinned at the boy again and asked. "What say you?"
Link hesitated a moment, thinking this was some sort of trick; but he found no obvious downside to the suggestion when he thought about it. He did have a fully powered Master Sword also. But what kind of advantage could Ganon possibly hope to gain from just using swords?
Oh well...its Ganon's loss.
"Alright. A fight with the sword it is." He replied. "But
remember...no magic!"
No one could see it but Princess Zelda made a frown from afar.
"Oh yeah, like he'll keep his word..." she thought. "Don't fall
for it, Link!"
Ganondorf made a creepy smile.
"Then let's get started...O Hero of Winds!"
And with that, Ganondorf made a tremendous leap into the now pouring rain, flinging raindrops in every direction as he pointed both his swords downward in an attempt to drive them down into Link's skull.
Luckily, Link rolled out of harms way in time and Ganon's sword's drilled straight into the stone floor, giving him enough time to sprint behind the man and slash at his open spot. Before he could do that however, Ganon took one of his hands, spun around, and swatted the boy away, leaving him enough time to get his swords free and charge straight at him!
Link responded quickly yet again and took this opportunity to try an aerial attack. As Ganondorf came down with his swords, he leapt into the air high enough to get above his head and with a yell, Link brought his sword down toward the evil man's head!
A clank suddenly sounded, and Zelda watched on with anxiousness. Ganon just lifted his two swords in a crisscross pattern, creating another block for Link's attack.
Nether side was about to give up now though, and as soon as Link landed back on the wet floor, he prepared another attack for when Ganondorf had his shot at him.
The two went at each other in this manner for a decent amount of time, exchanging attacks, trading blows, and pretty much canceling each other's attacks without any of them dealing any damage. As she watched, the Princess of Hyrule couldn't believe how evenly matched they were! But...something was puzzling her...
"Why did Ganondorf want a plain old sword fight?" she wondered silently. "He knows that the Master Sword is the only sword that can defeat him, and with Link fighting him at the level he is, he should at least be a little worried about getting injured. So why...why is he continuing to duel with Link when they aren't even dealing each other any damage? What is his hoping for?"
As she pondered this for a couple seconds while watching Link retaliate from a downward slash from the dark man, something caught her eye that perhaps only her and Ganondorf had seen.
Link's reaction time to Ganon's attack wasn't as quick as usual and once he stopped moving for a moment, she could see that Link was breathing pretty rapidly.
Suddenly, the princess knew what the fiend's plan was.
"Link!" she hollered over the endless rain, grabbing his attention. "It's Ganondorf! He's trying to tire you out until you make a mistake!"
Upon hearing this, the young hero took one look at the evil man and performed a back flip to create some distance between them. He glared at the man and tensed back up when another creepy grin formed on his opponents face.
"She's right you know." Ganon said, his tone making it sound like it was too obvious. He lowered his swords and the fight seemed to halt for a time; at least until he made his point.
"It was a mistake to allow yourself to become a hero, boy." He said grinning. "You may have some slight skill in the ways of the sword...but without the strength of the body, you will only end up exhausting yourself until you have nothing left to give." He made a snicker and turned his palms up while still holding his weapons to catch a couple of the raindrops. "As you can see, your precious kingdom is already doomed. So why fight a battle you know is for nothing?"
Link just straightened up and took this time to take a breather.
"You're wrong, Ganondorf." He retaliated. "This fight is to ensure a future of peace and happiness; one that does not have suffering and pain." He pointed his glowing sword at him. "By removing you and anything else like you from the picture, such a future can be made possible! And if you think I'm going to give up...your dead wrong!" He lowered his head to emphasis his seriousness and added. "I'll NEVER give up!"
"Tell him, Link!" Zelda cheered quietly, making sure not to draw too much attention to herself.
Ganondorf must have had a deep hatred for stubbornness, and anger quickly started to show in his eyes.
"You are just a mere child!" he shouted, his grip tightening on his sword's hilts. "Your title means nothing! You may have the legendary blade of evil's bane, but that alone will never be enough to defeat me!"
"Say what you want!" Link retorted. "I will not rest until you are defeated, once and for all!"
With his anger now even more fueled, Ganondorf got a burst of energy and charged straight at Link faster than the eye could see!
Link almost didn't react in time, but luckily his reflexes took control and he inadvertently lifted the Master Sword horizontally. Ganon's two long sword's came down on the shimmering blade, resulting in a loud clank that echoed throughout the flooding kingdom. They then started to tremble as Ganondorf added more force to try and drive the blades down on Link's head.
The hero used all the strength he could muster to keep the sword's from reaching his skull and he tightened his grip even harder when the added pressure started to make his wrist sore. To add more strength to his sword, he took his mirror shield in his right hand and held it in front of his bending form. He pushed it against the Master Sword and added more resistance to Ganondorf's twin blades, thus making it easier for him to keep them away from his head.
"Face it, boy!" Ganondorf said through gritted teeth. "You, along with everything else you hold dear will fall under the darkness I've already cast! Surrender now, and I just might consider letting you and your pathetic princess live."
Link's eyes narrowed through his tensed expression.
"Never..." he spat quietly.
Ganondorf kept his red eyes locked onto the young boy's face as he grew more and more annoyed with his determination. They stayed like that for a couple more seconds, frozen as if time just halted its never-ending flow.
Before the moment lingered too long however, Ganondorf suddenly eased the added force on his blade, and took half a step back as if something just struck his mind that he never thought of before. He lowered his head as his two blades rested at his sides, his face unseen to Link. He remained erringly quiet during the whole scene and soon nothing could be heard except the rain and light thunder.
Finding his behavior somewhat odd, Link lowered his shield and the Master Sword and looked at him with a confused face. Did he finally get the hint?
Zelda thought Ganon's actions were puzzling as well.
...almost too puzzling...
"What is he doing? He's just standing there like an idiot, wide open for attack." She thought. "...what is he up to..."
Suddenly, even from her spot some distance away, Zelda caught the faintest hint of Ganondorf snickering under his shadowed face. She quickly tensed up.
"LINK! LOOK OUT!"
...but she wasn't quick enough...
Before the boy could figure out what she was talking about, he suddenly felt a coursing pain run through his stomach, forcing him to cry out and tighten his eyes shut in agony. He felt the rest of his body fly backwards from the force that came with the sneak attack and he tumbled on the wet stone flooring before skidding to a halt in a large puddle of water.
Zelda put a hand over her mouth as she watched Ganondorf retract his extended foot and start to walking over to the boy's figure, who was now laying on his side and holding his stomach with the hand that use to wield his shield.
As the King of Evil reached the small hero, he looked down at him with a half evil half pitiful look on his face.
"I tried to warn you, foolish boy..." he muttered, as Link made a couple quiet moans. Standing next to his body, the man pulled back his foot and kicked the boy hard in the back, sending him on another short flight across the waterlogged battlefield.
This time, Link's scream was even louder and landed hard on his side before coming to a halt. He lost his grip on the Master Sword upon impact, and it fell to the ground about a foot away from his head.
"No! Link!" Zelda called as she watched him lay on the cold, wet ground, panting and trying to tolerate the aching in his back and stomach. With him unable to fight back and with Ganondorf walking toward him again, she couldn't help but fear for his life and she began to run toward him, anxious to get there before Ganondorf did.
"Hold on, Link! I'm coming!" she called as she quickly closed the gap between herself and his sprawled body.
Just when she was about to reach him however, a sword planted itself in between her and Link and she skidded to a halt on the slippery ground. She froze as she looked up to see that Ganondorf had beaten her.
"You stay out of this!" he quickly said. Lifting the sword he used to stop her with, he turned the sword on its dull end and hit her right across her body, sending her back to where she was previously.
Princess Zelda yelled a little as she hurdled through the air and landed on her side with a small splash, a little bruised, but mostly unharmed.
With her out of the way, Link was left wide open for Ganondorf to do anything his black heart desired, and so he took the same sword he used against Zelda and pointed it down at the young hero.
"This is the end, boy..." he said in a deep evil voice that could only be his. "This was over before it even started, and now..." he paused and formed an evil smile. "...you will die here..."
Link managed to open his eyes and squinted up at him, completely helpless to do anything because his body still hadn't recovered from the man's sneak attack. He could only watch as Ganondorf began to pull a stunt that Link was all too familiar with.
The fiend slowly started to lift one of his swords, raindrops trickling off its sharp blade as if it was drooling for the taste of first blood.
Link tried to move, for he knew what the man was planning to do with that weapon. When he did however, he was suddenly overcome by a stinging feeling which crippled him into not moving.
With his sword now fully over his head, Ganon made another sneer at the young boy in green and slowly uttered the words...
"Farewell...foolish boy."
Link quickly tightened his eyes shut as Ganon started to bring his sword down, expecting extreme pain to follow.
But instead of feeling pain, he suddenly heard a familiar zing, followed by a yell and a resulting flash of light that filled his black vision!
Immediately, Link opened his eyes, which widened with surprise once he saw what was before him.
Ganondorf no longer had his sword raised and instead his form was arched back with these small yellow streams of what looked like lightning running all over his body. Not an inch of him was moving except for whatever moved slightly when he breathed. Whatever hit him had put some sort of paralyzing effect on him.
Link knew that he couldn't have done that by accident. In fact, he had seen that form of attack before and it required the use of his bow and arrow.
Suddenly finding the strength to prop himself up, his eyes quickly trailed around the arena, looking for the only other person that could have pulled a stunt like that.
Finally, he spotted her. Standing some distance away with a notched arrow that had its tip glowing, along with a bow aimed right at Ganondorf...was Zelda. She had secretly taken Link's bow and arrows when he wasn't looking, and now she was finally helping out like she wanted to in the first place.
"That was for hitting me earlier!" she shouted, before glancing over to Link. "Quick!" she hollered. "Hit him now while he's stunned!"
"Right!" Link called back. Suddenly finding the energy in him returning, he quickly got to his feet while grabbing the Master Sword off the ground. With one burst of energy, the hero charged straight at the still paralyzed Ganondorf, intent on giving him serious payback for pulling a sneak attack on him.
As Link pulled back and swung the Master Sword over his head, the paralyzing effects on Ganondorf grew weaker, giving the evil king enough time to sidestep out of the way before the Master Sword sliced open his side. However, his movement was slow since the paralysis was not fully gone and the legendary blade singed his heavily-clothed right arm, cutting through the tough fabric like it was butter and forming a decent cut on his left arm.
Link quickly spun around to face his opponent, observing him as the last bit of paralysis wore off. He was staring at his new wound, which by now was showing only the faintest trace of blood.
"You will pay for that!" Ganondorf suddenly yelled as he spun around and lunged straight at Link!
The young hero held up his sword to block, but again, another bright flash occurred and Ganondorf suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Zelda had shot another what she called a Light arrow before the fiend reached the boy, giving Link yet another chance to get a hit in.
And hit he did, for as soon as he could see again, the Hero of Winds took advantage of Ganon's open front and charged toward his bent form. He leapt through the air and did one large thrust toward Ganondorf's shoulder, deeply cutting it and even causing the fiend to let out a yell!
"Alright!" cheered Zelda. "A couple more of those and he'll be history in no time!" Immediately, she prepared another arrow, in case Ganon went on another rampage. Quite frankly, she wasn't sure what kind of effect these shining arrows would have on the evil king, but she figured Link wouldn't carry around glowing arrows just because they were pretty and knew they had some sort of usefulness. Besides, who knew she had such good aim, and now that she knew they paralyzed evil itself, she wasn't going to let them go to waste!
Ganondorf had already recovered from both the paralysis and the injury, and was now steaming mad that the two runts were suddenly gaining the upper hand. He may have been the King of Evil, but even he could not divide his attention between two separate targets.
The man shot a furious look at Link, and then at Zelda, once the princess suddenly started to speak.
"Not what you expected, ay Ganondorf?" she said with a sneaky smile. "You may have more stamina and speed than we do, but with both of us working together, your not even able to fight back!"
Ganondorf was now even more raged than he was before, and his fists tightened more over the handles of his twin blades.
"Silence, you pathetic child!" he shouted over to her. "You may outnumber me two to one, but both of you are still no match for my superior skill and might!"
Almost right after he said this, he heard a small laugh from behind him and quickly glared back at the owner.
"I guess those two hits from the Light arrows didn't give you a good enough hint." Link said. "Just how do you plan to fight me, and at the same time dodge Zelda's shots, huh?" he finished, giving a look at Ganondorf that demanded an answer.
His smirk quickly faded however, when the King of Evil made a sneaky grin of his own instead of an angry one that he expected.
Zelda didn't like that look either, and watched as the heavily clothed villain shook his head.
"You two cannot even begin to comprehend the full extend of my abilities." he stated deeply. "Just because you've managed to give me only superficial wounds, does not mean that you can claim victory. This fight has only just begun..."
"Then why don't we just cut the talk and finish this already?!" called an impatient Zelda.
The man slowly glanced over at her. "As you wish...
...dear princess!"
Suddenly, Ganondorf disappeared!
Link and Zelda quickly tensed up with cautious and shock. They quickly scanned the soaked battlefield for any sign of the dark fiend, but not a trace of him remained except the bit of water that splashed up when he vanished.
Suddenly, Link shouted over the loud pouring rain!
"ZELDA! LOOK OUT!"
Zelda quickly spun around in all directions to try and see what to look out for, and she inadvertently looked up, only to find Ganondorf dropping out of the sky toward where she was standing, swords first!
Without even thinking, she sprinted in a random direction with only one thought in her mind, and that was to get out of the way! Luckily she noticed him in time, and she managed to slip out of range before Ganon landed and drilled his swords into the ground, rather than her skull.
Zelda didn't stop running. She knew she had to get a good distance away from him in order to properly use the Light arrows, and though she may have gotten most of her bold attitude back, she was still a little frightened by this man's power and abilities.
"Curse these heels!" she thought, suddenly finding it hard to run in them. When she finally thought she was a good enough distance away from him, Zelda quickly stopped and turned around to confirm Ganondorf's whereabouts.
Instead of finding him where she previously was however, she found him soaring through air as if he was flying, right toward her!
She gasped in horror and quickly spun back around to run away again. But this time, the slippery ground caused her to stumble and trip right over the hem of her long dress, making her fall to the ground and land in a large puddle with a splash.
Immediately she propped herself up and tried to scramble back to her feet to continue her run, but suddenly found that she couldn't move forward. Something was suddenly keeping her pinned to the ground by the tip of her dress! She quickly looked behind her and saw that Ganondorf was stepping on it with one of his feet, a large frown crossing his dark face.
"You can't keep running away from me, princess." he muttered with annoyance. He quickly raised one of his long swords and said. "This will teach you not to interfere with my reign!"
Princess Zelda quickly shut her eyes as Ganondorf brought his blade down, only for it to be met by the Master Sword!
Both Ganondorf and Zelda quickly looked over to Link, as the boy used all his might to keep the sword from coming down on the princess. The Hero of Winds did a mighty push to the sword to get Ganon's foot off her dress and then shouted to her.
"Run!" he said.
Without even hesitating, the young girl scrambled out of the way, giving Link and Ganondorf more space to fight. Once she was out of the way, Link took the opportunity to try and get another hit in. Rolling to one side, the boy hero made a mighty slash to Ganondorf's left flank, making a huge cut along the fiend's side!
The boy jumped back as Ganondorf flailed his head and let out a painful yell, swinging his swords about and flinging water in every direction. When he finally stopped, the man quickly turned to face the boy.
"You will regret doing that, boy!" he shouted.
Link crouched a little to get ready for an oncoming attack. But Ganondorf didn't lunge at him like he expected...
...instead, he turned back around and jumped high into air, landing exactly in the middle of the arena and far away from both Link and Princess Zelda.
"What's he doing?" Zelda wondered. She watched with curiosity from her spot not too far from Link, slowly preparing another arrow in case the King of Evil was about to pull a fast one on them.
But what happened next was something both Link and Zelda didn't expect
at all.
Ganondorf took both his blades and held them horizontally in mid-air, pointing them directly at Link. The tips of the swords then suddenly began to glow with this strange blue aura, which quickly wrapped itself over the entire blade and even Ganondorf's hands.
Link and Zelda's eyes went large, when they suddenly realized what he was about to do.
Before either of them could do anything, the blue glow churned greatly and a large beam of white magic shot right out of the blades themselves, cutting through the air and rain like it was nothing! The loud sound it was making as it flew through the air was enough to wake up the dead, and the ground beneath it literally crumbled in its wake!
And it was heading straight for Link.
The boy didn't know what to do to counter this sort of attack, and his first instinct was to try and block it somehow. In a split second, he raised his mirror shield and planted his feet for impact, right before the blast rammed itself into him!
With a bang, the beam crashed into his shield, exploding on contact and flinging dust and smoke in all the directions. The tremendous force not only threw dust everywhere, but it was also so great that Link couldn't keep his footing! The strength of the blast was too much for the boy to hold back and he was immediately launched backwards and hurled through the air like a rag doll.
"Link!" Zelda cried as she watched him land right on his side and bounce a couple of times before he stopped.
He remained still for a short while, but didn't stay down long and slowly started to stand back up. But...as soon as he did, another large energy ball came careening toward him again; and this time, it was too late for him to block!
This one wasn't aimed well however and it blew up right next to him instead of directly on top of him. But the explosion itself was still enough to knock Link off his feet and he flew sideways through the air, landing even further away from where he was previously. He suddenly felt pain shoot through his tiny body and he cried out in agony, hoping it would stop.
"Stop it!" the princess shouted. "That's enough! He can't fight back!" she shouted, more so to Ganondorf than to herself.
The man ignored her pleas and charged up another ball of magic, which he fired again at the young hero before he could even retaliate. The beam hit the ground in front Link this time and he was sent straight up into the air before landing hard on his back not too far from Zelda.
"NO!" the princess cried.
Link was now even more battered and bruised than he was before. But despite his slight burns and scrapes, he somehow got back on his feet; just in time to see yet another white beam coming at him, this one aimed to perfection and intent on ending his life in one big bang! His eyes grew huge and his body stiffened as the beams bright glow suddenly engulfed his vision.
He could feel immense heat coming from the blast as it just about reached his face, forcing his mouth to open wide with shock.
But...just when the hero thought for sure he would die...when everything around him went completely white...he faintly heard a voice cry over the loud noise of the oncoming blast.
"LINK!!!"
...and that was the last thing he heard before everything went
white...