The Day the Universes Collided

Chapter Eleven

Outside Skulltula Mansion

Gallera

Time: 1550 hours

The Links rematerialized outside and jumped away from the shadows. Link aimed the Gilded Sword at the one that resembled him the most and looked around warily, unsure of what to do next. Elfin dusted himself off and began reloading his weapon as Allstar cocked his head in confusion and Waker stood alone, muttering softly to himself. After a few moments, Dark Link whisked out of the house and reformed next to them. The Shadow Links immediately bowed to him.

/Master./ they intoned in voices that sounded like dying echoes. Dark Link sighed, rolled his eyes and slashed the air in front of himself with a hand. The Shadow Links disappeared as soon as he finished.

"What in the name of Farore was that?!" Link exclaimed in shock, staring at him.

"My servants. The Shadow Links found in some of the Zelda games." Dark Link replied, "Shadow Links aren't the brightest villains, but they do obey orders extremely well, and they only obey the highest ranking Dark character."

"Which would have been King Bowser if my brother hadn't been turned into a Dark Allstar, which ranks him higher than King of Darks and is equal to the Allstars in power." Allstar added brightly.

"Run that by me again?" Elfin asked, raising an eyebrow at the twins.

"Nintendo's hierarchy. You'll see soon enough." Dark Link dismissed it, "I figured that since my brother and Maverick and I are still connected to the Nintendo Power Core, my Shadow Links would still be able to sense my location and go through dimensions to find me. That's why I summoned them to warp you out of the house. They pulled you between the fabrics of space to get you here."

"If that's true, then let me turn off my earrings." Allstar remarked and reached up to the two blue earrings he wore. He tapped both once at the same time and grinned. "There! Homing beacon and two way microphone deactivated!"

"NES Link is gonna kill you for that." Dark Link muttered as he did the same to his own silver earrings.

"What are we going to do about Maverick?! He's still trapped in there!" Link cried, pointing at the mansion. Elfin sighed and grabbed his phone. He started dialing and grumbling to himself.

"Man, I hate calling for backup! I end up having to share the money." he muttered. Allstar grinned at him.

"Spoken like a Link!" he declared and laughed.

Within an hour, a pair of vans and a taxi had parked on the front lawn of the Skulltula Mansion. A young woman dressed in black body armor and hefting a tank of some kind on her back leaped out of the first van. A pretty redhead with a dazzling smile, she ran up to Elfin and saluted him.

"Lt. Jean Archne, reporting for duty, SIR!" she declared, "I got the gas and the pillowcases!" Elfin groaned.

"I knew it would come to this." he grumbled and looked back at his friends. "Rupees aren't the currency here; coins are. We spray the Skulltulas with a special gas and they drop gold rupees and coins. We can change the rupees to coins at the bank, but we always end up fighting over them in here." he explained. Allstar, Waker, and Link's ears all perked up.

"Gold rupees?! As in worth 200 rupees?" they all said in unison. Elfin nodded. The three elves grinned at each other, then at Jean.

"Um, sir? Why are there more of you and why are they all looking at me like that?" she whispered at Elfin.

"Will you all stop thinking about money?!" Dark Link shrieked at the heroes, "It won't kill you to go through one stinkin' quest without trying to get rich quick!"

"Sorry, force of habit." Allstar laughed as Waker and Link looked embarrassed.

The other van opened and three women dressed in clothes resembling those of the Gerudo pirates all jumped out and greeted Elfin. Link automatically had his sword aimed at them.

"Are these Gerudos good or bad?!" he snapped at Elfin. The officer looked back at him with an arched eyebrow as Linda and Lerou also jumped out of the van and joined the pirates.

"Hey, Dad, I asked the elite unit to come along, is that okay?" Linda asked as the pirates studied Link warily. Elfin nodded. "Can we go, too?" Elfin shook his head.

"I told ya he wasn't gonna let us." Lerou grumbled, kicking at the grass.

"These aren't Gerudos. They're the Tiger's Claw pirates. My wife was their former queen and Linda is training to take her place." Elfin explained absently as he looked at the taxi, "Sam! I thought for sure you'd break another land speed record getting here!" A man with average build and a messy crop of brown hair grinned as he got out of the driver's seat and ran up to him.

"Sorry, killer traffic." he apologized. "So what's the plan?" Elfin explained the whole story to them, from meeting the other Links, to the current situation they were facing. "Link, my man, you need another vacation after all this is done." Elfin frowned at the grinning faces of his world's friends.

"A month in recuperative therapy is not what I'd consider a vacation." he grumbled as the pirates snickered, and Jean and Sam laughed heartily.

"I told you to get the Barbed Longshot examined before you went into Hangman Tower, but did you listen? Noooo." Sam went on, "' Oh, I'm the great Agent Link Elfin, I don't need to have my equipment checked before running into a skyscraper full of ReDeads and no working elevators and the only way through is by crawling around in the ventilation system!'"

"Oh, shut up." Elfin growled, "The plan is to get us into that house and to the top floor so we can destroy the figurine. You guys are going to search it and find Leslie and Maverick before they get killed. Got it?" The group nodded. "Okay! Let's move out!" They raced into the mansion, leaving Linda and Lerou to stand outside in sheer boredom.

"How exactly are we going to destroy the figurine if Maverick isn't going to be there to scan it for weaknesses?" Link asked Elfin as they raced back to the fourth floor, the backup running around and spraying Skulltulas with Jean's special gas.

"We wing it, Link. We wing it!" Elfin huffed, leaping over the chasm in the hallway. Link looked confused as he followed.

"Wing it? But we don't have wings." he murmured. Allstar stopped after jumping over the hole. He turned back to call to the pirates that followed them.

"Maverick fell down this hole! See if you can get down there and find him!" he shouted, then turned and followed the other Links.

*****

Time: 1630 hours

"I don't like this." Allstar growled as they stood before a huge door at the tenth story. Dark Link glanced back at him in silent understanding. They had slashed and hacked their way past the Skulltulas, avoided several more traps and finally made it to the boss room. Elfin looked back at them.

"What now?" he growled. Allstar waved his hand around.

"All this. It was too easy. There weren't any puzzles to solve, no brain-bending monster attacks, nothing!" he clarified. Link nodded.

"I agree with him. It seems as if we were allowed to come this far. To come to this room." he added, "I wouldn't be surprised if the monster behind this door is the greatest threat in their arachnid arsenal."

"The figurine?" Waker asked and the others nodded silently. "It would make sense. We haven't heard from the others about finding a strange doll anywhere." Static crackled suddenly and Elfin pulled a radio up from a hip pouch.

"Elfin here." he replied and listened to the messages.

"It's me, man! The pirates found Leslie! We got her outside and, man, was she a mess! I got some water and food for her and I already radioed for medics." Sam's voice declared.

"What about Maverick?" Elfin countered. Sam sighed.

"No signs. Jean searched every square inch of the basement and found nothing but bones and webs. We think the spiders might have taken him somewhere else, or just ate him up already." the cab driver reported. Elfin closed his eyes and nodded slightly.

"You did your best, guys. We'll see you in a bit." he called and ended the conversation. "Man, Maverick...." he murmured as the other Links looked grim. Waker shook his head and looked determined.

"I don't believe it! Maverick couldn't be killed that easily! You've seen how he fought in Hyrule Castle! Spiders are nothing to him!" he declared, "I bet you a hundred rupees he's alive and....and right on the other side of this door!"

"Okay, cash or check?" Allstar asked, bringing out a small black book. Dark Link punched him in the arm, glaring at him. "What? I need the money!"

"By Din's Eye, we're just wasting time talking!" Link declared and kicked down the door, "We'll find the answers inside, not out here yammering about money and small black boxes that speak!" He ran in, sword in hand, as the heroes looked at him in surprise, then followed.

The room was huge and decrepit, with a mannequin-sized statue at the far end. It jerked to life as the Links neared the center of the room and it had a single glowing gem in its head. It raised its arms and the limbs began to melt, forming blades in their place. Allstar and Dark Link stepped back a bit and jumped as Waker began to speak strangely.

"The light and the darkness, always a pair. The darkness has beauty, the light is fair. Bring them together to tear them apart. This is the truth I've taken to heart." he intoned and put a hand to his forehead, grimacing, "Hero...." Link glanced at him in shock, then turned to look at the statue again as it began to walk towards them, holding its blades menacingly.

"I've seen that gem before...." he murmured and blinked, "Ikana Canyon's Stone Tower!" The red gem was shaped like the jewels he had fired on as a child in Termina.

"What? You mean, Majora's Mask? Miyamoto, I hated that level. What were the Programmers smoking when they designed that layout?" Allstar grumbled as he darted forward and started to duel with the figurine.

"Wait up!" Dark Link cried and ran in to help him. Elfin growled and pulled out his gun again.

"Screw this." he muttered and fired at the jewel. It flashed and he fell back with a cry, covering his face. "Aaaagh! My eyes!" Link jumped and he knelt by him, prying them away from his face. He gasped in shock as he stared down at Elfin's frantic expression. The royal blue had turned milky white. "I can't see! I'm blind! Oh God, oh God, oh God!" he babbled hysterically.

"Argh!" Dark Link raged as he stumbled back from the doll, his left arm bleeding from a slash it delivered during the momentary insanity. He tried to move it and discovered he couldn't grip his sword. "Allstar! I'm down!" The Nintendo Link didn't answer, too busy with blocking blows to respond. Waker struggled to move but the strange little poem he had recited had seemed to sap his strength.

"Hero said the light and the darkness!" he stammered and pointed at the walls, "No light! It feeds on darkness and it gives darkness!"

"Light arrows!" Link declared in realization, "The red jewels in Stone Tower were affected by the Light arrows! Elfin! Don't you have them?" The officer shook his head, covering his face and trying to calm down.

"N-no. I have Fire, Ice, and Blessed Arrows. That's all." he stammered. Link nodded and looked at Glitter.

"Little one, I'm going to need your help. Can you hover over that doll's head so I can target the jewel? Allstar is distracting it, but they keep moving too much. If I miss...." he trailed uncertainly as he looked at the two fighters. Allstar had a strange fighting style. Most of the time he fought like he did in the games he starred in, but then he would add in a few extra moves that came from the fighting games. The figurine was constantly being off set by the variety of attacks. Allstar was tiring quickly and wouldn't be able to hold it off much longer.

"I'll do my best, but you'd better not miss 'cause then if you do the arrow might hit that other Link and then there'd be blood everywhere and I really hate blood and then it gets sticky and nasty and...." the fairy chattered to Link as it bobbed about.

"Glitter, stop babbling!" Elfin yelled, "Damn, I don't understand a word she says but when she starts talking, she won't stop!" Link laughed and stood up, understanding perfectly every word the fairy spoke. Glitter raced in and hovered above the figure's head, guiding Link's aim as he pulled out his bow and murmured a spell on his arrow. Allstar looked up at her briefly in surprise.

"Z-targeting? Now?" he remarked and grunted as the figurine kneed him in the stomach. Dark Link echoed the sound and doubled over as his twin fell to the floor, curled up. The doll pulled its blade arm back, ready to drive it into the elf.

"Not today!" Link declared and fired the arrow. It shone brightly as it streaked through the air and hit the red jewel on the statue's head. It arced, as if in pain, then shattered into dust. Elfin groped about for a bit and sat up, blinking in surprise.

"I...I can see again?!" he remarked as Dark Link and Allstar began to recover. Link looked back at Waker in confusion.

"How did you know of those words? I hadn't told anyone about them and they were written in the language the ReDeads invented." he asked. Waker stood fully and tapped his forehead.

"Hero told me." he replied simply. Allstar grimaced and managed a grin as he limped up to the group.

"Heh, you owe me a hundred rupees. Maverick wasn't here." he teased and the group jumped in shock as a voice called out to them from above.

"Oh, I beg to differ." it rasped as a giant Skulltula descended from the ceiling. On its back, Maverick sat calmly, legs folded under him and same expressionless face as always.

"Maverick! You're alive!" Waker exclaimed happily. Link also looked joyful, but the other heroes were glaring at the dining table-sized spider. Maverick smiled slowly at them.

It was not a nice smile.

"Sorry, but the Elle Maverick you had befriended is no longer in command of himself. However, I, the great Master Skulltula, will be in control of his body for the duration of its usefulness." the rasping voice came from his mouth and, at the same time, from somewhere else on him. He stood and leaped off the spider, performing a perfect back flip that had him land on a pedestal where the figurine had been propped against before it moved. "You five, on the other hand, shall make for a fine feast for my servants before we begin to conquer the outside world!" Maverick went on and laughed evilly as the Giant Skulltula hissed and ran at the Links to attack, mouth open and dripping for a chance to feed on one of the heroes.