Rowen grinned and wiped her eyes using the back of her sleeve.  Navi, who was feeling better than ever, fluttered about her head with no pain, sprinkling her fairy dust all over.  Zelda smiled while she zipped here and there and back again.  The little fairy whooped with joy and kept thanking Rowen repeatedly.  Rowen began to laugh after the tenth time (or some number like that) and leaned against Zelda's shoulder.  Even Rauru smiled.  "Okay, okay, calm down.  Gah, talk 'bout your hyper fairy."

            "She isn't hyper; she's just Navi.  Besides, you fixed her wing.  I'd be thankful if I were her too," said Zelda.

            "Ah," said Rauru.

            "Huh?  Whattsup?" Rowen asked while munching happily on an apple that she had forgot she had.  It was a little dirty, but good nonetheless.

                Rauru looked to the goddess and smiled gently.  "The other Sages are here to see you.  Word travels fast between the six of us."

                She spat out a seed that she hadn't expected to find in her apple.  "Ya mean that there's more old farts like—erm…eh heh heh…"

                "No.  There are only two male Sages.  The other four are female."

                "Boy, do I feel st—out of place," Rowen replied with a chuckle, remembering not to use the word 'stupid' to express herself.  Rays of blue, green, red, orange, and purple appeared over circular medallions that had similar colors.  Rowen, who was standing on the middle symbol, stumbled backward and landed in the water, sputtering and cursing in spite of herself.  "Scare me like that, pah!  Mean Gages, or Mages?  Was it Pages?  Cages?"

                "Sages," said the other five Sages simultaneously.

                "Ohhhh, Sages!  How come I can't 'member none of this?"

                Zelda put a hand on her shoulder and helped her out of the shallow water while the Sage of Water, the Zora princess Ruto, looked down at Rowen with disapproval.  Rowen, seeing this, wrung her tunic skirt out and shook her hands.  She returned the expression, tight-lipped, and scrunched up her face.  Ruto's cold glare shattered and she began laughing, which, of course, caused Rowen to laugh; and the next thing they knew, everyone was laughing hard and merrily.  It was finally Rauru who halted the happiness by holding up his hand.  "Now that you are all gathered here," he began, looking from Nabooru all the way down to Saria, "we have important matters to discuss.  As you all know already, the Black Triforce has reappeared in this world, more vengeful than ever."  The Sages grumbled.  "He has eliminated Peron—"

                "Nah, he ate him!" Rowen spat.

                "Well, yes, anyway."  Rauru cleared his throat.  "He has eaten," (Rowen smirked at this correction), "Peron and taken the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda.  As we speak, I fear that even more destruction has taken place and I know that he is searching for this Chamber of Sages and the other parts of the Triforce.  We shan't let him have his way.  We must seal the entrance to this sacred place using our power over the elements and Zelda must warn the King of these happenings.  After that, Zelda, you are to stay in the castle until this danger has passed.  You will be safest there."

                Zelda stubbornly shook her head.  "No, I am staying here with all of you.  I want to fight as well, for Luke."  She tightened her fists gently.  "I cannot allow that monster to keep him inside of him.  I can only imagine what it is like to be trapped inside of yourself, especially when your true nature is vicious and—and—"

                "Cummon, Rauru, give her a chance!  We can't do it without Zeldy!"  Rowen said in her friend's defense.  "As the hidden goddess Rhapsody, I say you must!"  She paused.  "Whoa, that sounded funky comin' out o' my mouth."

                Darunia turned to Rowen with an arched eyebrow.  "You're the Goddess of Life?  Impossible!"

                Rowen snorted.  "Aw, shuddup, fatty.  'Sides, I got this."  She showed him the Triforce of Life proudly, but he only glowered at her.  "I c'n do all kinds of stuff with this puppy.  Wanna see?"

                "No."

                "Fine!" Rowen snorted and cracked her knuckles.  Then she added under her breath: "Party pooper."

                "I heard that!" Darunia growled.  "And I am not fat!"

                Rowen bit into her apple once again before speaking.  "You're right; you ain't fat, you're obese!"

                "That's quite enough!" Rauru snapped, flicking each of their heads just enough to get them to stop their insignificant quarreling.  " We have much more important things to worry about right now than Darunia's weight.  I feel that Malice draws ever nearer, even as we speak.  If we are to seal the entrance, we must seal it now, before it is too late to keep him out.  Come, my fellow Sages; pour your power into the seal."

                The Sages (including Princess Zelda) gathered around the middle symbol and began chanting something in a language only the Sages can understand.  Rowen looked at them all quizzically, and then shielded her eyes as a bright and beautiful rainbow light flashed and glowed around the circumference of the symbol. 

*               *            *

                The wicked god stared down at the Temple from above and chuckled sinisterly to himself.  He had finally found it, the Chamber of Sages.  The foolish Princess and ill-mannered girl had lead him right to it, and right to the ancient power of the Sages.  He descended until he was standing in front of the door, peering in on the peaceful Temple.  He could feel the Sages creating a seal to keep him out of the Chamber of Sages, but it is much to weak to hold him at bay.  At only half-strength, the seal could not even keep Ganondorf out, who was imprisoned in the Sacred Realm.  He approached the closed and glowing Door of Time and thrust his hand into the stone.  After removing his hand, the door cracked and shattered into many small pieces.  He was halfway through now; only the seal remained now.  The seal of the Sages surrounded the Pedestal of Time, and when dark power was entered into the seal itself, it would be drawn to its true master: Malice.  He stepped into the seal and threw his head back, feeling the power of the Sages re-enter his body.  But it did not feel as good as it should have.  Only half had been returned to him.  In order to rediscover where the other half of the elemental powers rested, he would have to enter the Chamber of Sages and pry it from the Sages themselves, or kill them if they refused to speak.  Malice held out his hand and was about to enter the Chamber of Sages when a familiar and angry voice echoed from behind him.

                "Get away from that!"

                Malice turned his head to look at Link, who was rather dizzy, but had felt that a great power was in the Temple of Time.  He smiled and turned around; the Hero drew the Master Sword.  "What a revelation to convene with you here.  It is fortunate for me; perhaps you can relay the locality of the additional powers of the elements to me."

                "I'd never tell you, not even if—"

                "I know of your diminutive clandestine.  It is entirely feasible that Zelda could find out by misfortune."

                Link swallowed.  "How—how do you know about that incident?"

                Malice drew nearer to him until he was peering down on the shocked Hero.  "I see all acts that you complete, with recognition to the Triforce of Wisdom.  Now if you shan't tell me of the site where the elements are at rest, I shall pry it from your grasp."

                Regaining his posture, Link replied, "I'll never let you find out, even if you do tell Zelda!"

                Malice's eyes narrowed and he placed a finger underneath the Hero's chin, lifting him up easily.  "I believe they are near.  They are calling out to me.  And I also accept as true that you possess them."

                "What?  But—how could you—?"

                Malice laughed and tossed him violently across the room.  Link hit the wall hard, a few bones in his back snapped, and he fell limply to the floor.  "You anticipated that I would always remain ignorant to where they lie? How irrational."

                Using his sword as a cane, Link stood up shakily, poised to fight.  "I won't give the Medallions to you!  You'd have to take them from me!"

                "That can most certainly be arranged."  Malice's eyes flashed once; Link's feet left the ground and he hovered in the air, unsuspended by any visible wire or rope.  "I would be contented if you would congregate with an associate of mine.  You may have knowledge of him; he has notified my being of an engagement in the past.  But I assure you that he shall not be conquered so effortlessly this time.  He awaits your influx in the Shadow Temple."

                Bongo Bongo? Link thought.  No, I defeated him!  Malice must be able to bring evil creatures back to life, like Ganondorf revived Volvagia.  I suppose I don't have much of a choice; I've got to rid the Shadow Temple of Bongo Bongo once again.  "All right, then; I'll get rid of him again.  It shouldn't be too much harder than last time we fought."

                "You shall discover for yourself quickly enough what it is capable of.  What shall you wager if you fail?"

                "Well, I wasn't expecting this to be a bet, but if by some occurrence I do lose," (Link would regret this later; he knew it), "I'll surrender the Medallions to you."

                "Very well.  If you emerge victorious, I shall retreat into death with the additional three goddesses.  Have we a negotiation?"

                "Y-yes."

                Malice couldn't help but smirk.  "Then off you go."

*               *              *

                The worn out Sages sat on their symbols, having failed to keep the seal strong.  There was only one answer to the disappearance of their control over the elements, and they all recognized it.  Rowen looked at them all, befuddled, and sat next to Zelda on the middle symbol of the Triforce.  "Hey, y'all right?" she inquired with a worried expression.

                "I don't know—I think so."

                Rowen crossed her arms and frowned stubbornly and irritably.  "Well, what're we gonna do now?  Without that seal thingy, we can't keep Whatshisface out of here."

                "But we can," Rauru gasped.  "You are a goddess.  Using the Triforce of Life, you can create a seal stronger than our own.  It will delay him long enough for Link to arrive here and assist us."

                "Me?" squeaked Rowen, pointing at herself.  Rauru nodded and she sighed.  "Okay, okay, I'll give it a shot.  But if I end up like you guys, there's gonna be trouble!  Uhm…how do I do whatever I'm s'posed to do?"

                "Just imagine the seal before you and it will appear."

                "Here goes nothin'!"  And it truly was nothing.  The moment she saw the seal in her mind, it activated immediately, protecting the weakened Sages and the goddess.  Rowen was surprised at how easy it was to control the power of the Triforce of Life, and began to believe that Malice could be defeated with this power, even if he was restored to full strength. 

                Her light could—and would—pierce through the abyss of darkness and free Hyrule (and the entire world) of the evil creature known as Malice.

*               *               *

                The giant drum on which the battle would take place remained unchanged.  The whole room was the same as it had been the first time Link had fought Bongo Bongo.  The same cold chill floated in the room too.  But there was no sign of the fiend locked inside of the well.  Link scanned the room for its one red eye, or even its huge hands.  Nothing.  And just when he was about to think that Malice had tricked him and had raised his ocarina to his lips, the huge drum began to beat.  Harder and harder and harder.  Link rose up into the air, then fell back down on the leathery surface.  And that continued until the huge hands of Bongo Bongo came into view and his entire head disappeared.  "Here we go," Link murmured, sheathing his sword and drawing his faithful bow.  He didn't need the Lens of Truth just yet, not until both hands were frozen.  But the drums were beating so hard that he could not seem to fix his aim properly.  All of his arrows flew right past the target and hit the wall with a quiet twang.  Each time he landed, he was launched higher and higher into the air; it was like jumping repeatedly on a huge trampoline. 

                Bongo Bongo hesitated to beat on his drum now.  Link was high in the air and would not come down for a moment, so it had time to smack its drum viciously with both of its monstrous hands.  The drum (whose leather hide was going up) collided with Link's feet hard, snapping the bones in both of his knees and hurling him off of the drum and into the dangerous, toxic water.  Bongo Bongo laughed its airy laugh and began to beat upon its drum again victoriously.  The water was quickly draining Link's life away, and the sole solution the Hero could come up with was to launch the Longshot into the fiend's wildly moving hands.  He had no time to take careful aim; he just loosed the hook and chain, hoping it would meet its target.  It whistled toward one of the hands, only to miss and hit the wall and retract.  Link's flesh began to burn and he fired again.  Bongo Bongo, who was too involved in his already-claimed success, found a hook lodged in one of its hands.  Bewildered, it shook the wounded hand; the Hero drew nearer as the Longshot helped him to fly out of the water and back onto the drum.  With a hard yank, Link pulled the hook out of the huge hand and tucked the Longshot away.  He recovered his bow from the middle of the drum and sat down.  His legs were useless now that his knees' bones had been shattered like glass.  Enraged, Bongo Bongo seized the Hero and began to squeeze the life from his weakened body.  Link screamed, but was powerless to fight back.  The bones in his arms snapped; now he could do nothing but yield. 

                "Malice!" he yelled as loudly as he could.  "I surrender!"

                The heartless laughter of the god echoed through the entire room.  "I suspected that you could not destroy this fiend a second time.  Do not fear, for I shall obliterate this creature and consume its undeserved influence of darkness."  Link saw Malice step out of a black and purple void.  Malice's massively built body glowed a threatening black and enveloped the fiend completely, dissolving the body and releasing the dark strength it held within itself.  Link fell to the drum's surface and lie very still as not to cause himself more pain.  With a simple wave of his hand, the huge black cloud shot straight into Malice's chest, filling him with its power.  There was a flash of black light, and the two of them were back in the Temple of Time where they had met before.

                "I deem that triumph belongs to me," the god said with a wicked smirk, summoning forth the six Medallions that held the remaining half of the Sages' elemental powers.  He held three in each time and sapped them of their power.  The Medallions crumbled, and before Link's very eyes, Malice grew stronger.  The elemental strength rushed through every muscle in Malice's body, every vein, every cell, everything.  It filled him with a newfound vigor and radiated throughout the Temple, causing the stonework to crumble, just like the Medallions.  Link barely managed to crawl to the Pedestal of Time and hold one of his hands above it before the Temple collapsed completely.