To Jade: thanks very much again for your continued support. I hope that you like this chapter too! But I believe that you are speaking of what Nintendo are calling their next generation console, the Revolution. You got the name right though, (apparently, It'll be so original, that it could might as well not use a T.V at all. Or maybe it can fly, upside down, and shoot lasers and make the toast at the same time. 0o Uhh, forget that… Just know that it will rule!

To frozen-sword: glad you like it. I actually had no idea what the plot was going to be. But now I've got one on the drawing board. I'm quite proud of it really….

To Anonymous: 0o! All I can say is that I hope this chapter came out before you combusted, spontaneously. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series, but if the new Gamecube Zelda game turns out to have the exact same story line as this, then I might demand a major share in Nintendo profits.

Remember, your are my witnesses…

Chapter 7: The power of Darkness

The sound of the storm came back in full effect as Link unsheathed his own sword. The lashing rain seemed to have just penetrated through an invisible barrier, which had momentarily withheld it for a while. Link found it hard not to stay 100 percent focused on his evil counter-part, but he glanced around him and his surroundings to check if he was outnumbered by any monster friends Dark Link might have brought.

The shadowy copy stood poised patiently, waiting for Link to finish his stupid suspicions. Finding that there were no more opponents, he took out his shield, once again fixed on Dark Link.

"Pfft! Took your time…" Dark Link called out over the raging bellows of wind and rain. Link simply couldn't understand! He already defeated this demon! How was he here! So many questions were spiraling in his head, begging to be answered. But the dark elf had enough of these thoughts, and raised his blackened blade. "No more! Prepare yourself!"

Nothing could have readied Link fast enough, as the shadow had already burst past Link with his sword aimed at his side. But Link had accidentally dropped his shield in panic, and it luckily it fell in the way of the attack. But it was shot out of the way with such force; it flew over the steep edge of the soaked ground and into the spring, which was steadily rising in water level.

Link had just lost one of the only ways to defend himself, and was expecting his dark self to strike again finishing him off. But he turned round to see that he was standing at ease again, looking disgusted. "What! Is that seriously the best you can do!" he spat on the ground, "Pathetic! I might as well put you out of your hopeless misery if your not even going to try!"

Link was getting frustrated already, and he hadn't even moved. Forgetting any sense of fear or hesitation, he charged at him, leapt in the air and brought his sword down, finding it simply hit the soil where the demon was standing. He had merely taken a step side ways before Link had even jumped. Not caring, Link swung his sword around from the spot as Dark Link quickly crouched to the ground to avoid it.

Link had swung too hard and went off-balance so that his Dark side could easily straighten back up and give him a quick boot in the stomach, sending the Hero of Time splashing to the muddy ground, winded and out of breath. Link could only get as far up as his hands and knees before he got his breath back. Unable to understand why he was losing so badly. Why was this creep so quick? Link knew he had trouble defeating him before, but not this much. Dark Link was already standing right in front of him, sword raised to make this Link's shortest fight ever, and his last.

But Link had conjured the Nayru spell just in time as the sparkling barrier deflected the black sword. Link got back to his feet as Dark Link shielded his blood red eyes from the light, but soon recovered and began attacking at it again.

Link knew that his spell was impenetrable for at least a few minutes but he was forced back with every swinging blow that Dark Link dealt. It was clear that he was determined not to be stopped by the spell as each attack grew in strength. Link now getting forced back towards the spring, which was now more of a deep pool as it continued to fill up.

Fear was forced upon Link once again as he saw his enemy gather up energy with his blade handle gasped in both hands over his head, and with an unreal amount of momentum, he brought it crashing down. It clanged loudly with Link's sword as it shattered the barrier into a thousand pieces. As the precious diamond-like shards faded away, the last hope of Link's survival was knocked out of his grasp with the force and dug into the ground, too far away for it to be retrieved in time. How could he break it? Link thought in despair. It never failed him before; the Great Fairy had told him herself that it was not possible for evil to penetrate its shell.

Another smirk of triumph came over Dark Link as he raised his weapon again to finish this pitiful struggle. Link could do noting but brace himself, accepting defeat. But as the blade was swung down at his face with only his two hands shielding it, the sword was reflected backwards. Link opened his eyes again to see a look of shock and confusion on Dark Link's face, as he was sure that the Hero should have been cleaved in two. But as Link lowered his hands he saw a trail of the same light blue spell briefly shining in the dark night, but fade away after what was less than a second. Link tried waving his hand in front of him while Dark Link stared, not sure whether he should attack again. His hands were glowing, and the light still continued to leave a thin, but very solid mark in the air before it disappeared.

Link understood what was happening pretty quickly. It seemed that the spell hadn't been completely destroyed after all. But it must have found the strain of covering a large area against such heavy attacks too much, and instead of breaking, just focused its defense on where he guided his hand. Dark Link gained this information too by reading the elf's thoughts and decided to kill him before he could react in time. But link had already waved his hand across him, causing the sword to bounce back again from the brief light shield. This might have not been much of a hindrance to dark Link, but the fact that his sword was heavily forced back meant that he lost his balance, and had to regain his stance before he could take another swing at Link's shoulder. This gave enough time for Link to ready himself for the attack, and he successfully deflected it with a down-wards wave with both hands to one side. Dark Link was forced back again, and his once cool attitude and calm breathing was soon turning into frustration and rage.

Dark Link continued to swipe his sword at any angle imaginable to catch his original off guard, but it seemed that Link could even predict where he was going to strike next, and he continued to parry each strike as effectively as the last. But although he was keeping himself out of harms way, Link was still retreating backwards, and he was running out of solid ground, fast. And to make matters worse, Link could begin to sense that the magic was running out of power, it's light seeping away.

Noticing this, Dark Link doubled in effort to destroy the waning spell, whacking its defenses with all of his strength. The attacks barraged out at a much quicker pace too, because the repelling power that the spell projected was weakening as well. Link needed his sword to keep any chances that he might have had to survive, but the demon didn't give him any chance to reach it.

He quickly came up with a plan, and got ready for Dark Link to attack him again. As the shadowy villain brought his sword down in a vertical slash, Link timed his move just right, and clapped his hands on the sharp blade while focusing all power that he had left at that point. An explosion of bright light illuminated the whole canyon as Dark Link was blasted with enough force to send him flying backwards. He hit the ground and slid all the way to the steep valley drop. He went over the edge of the cliff, but saved himself from falling by grabbing onto one of the ropes that supported the bridge.

Link took this opportunity to race over to his sword and retrieve it. As he picked it up off the muddy ground, he then took out his last Deku Nut as means to help his escape.

Dark Link couldn't believe what had just happened, as he hung over the raging river that had greatly grown in velocity due to the torrential rain. His disbelief was broken though, because with a dull thud, the blade of his weapon had penetrated through the wooden planks just above him and pointed near his face, inches away as it had landed on the bridge. Clearly a sign that his work was not yet done, Dark Link swung himself up on top of the bridge with a move that seemed to defy gravity, and ripped the sword back out from under him.

Link had just remembered why he was here in the first place. Malon! He hoped that he had enough time to reach the Temple. Deciding to make a break for it across the bridge, Link could only pray that he had stunned his close nemesis long enough to get away. But he had barely turned to run for it when a shadow shot past him and formed back into it's solid-self as Dark Link jabbed for his throat. Link had barely dodged it, caught yet again by surprise, and his awkward duck to the side left him wide-open. Dark Link kneed the elf in the stomach, which give him enough time to spin around to gather momentum and smash Link with the butt of his sword. The hero was hit with great force and flew straight towards the once shallow puddle.

When he came back down to ground level, he shot straight past the thin plank walkway and plunged into the deep pool of water before thudding into the stony bed on his back. All sound seemed to cut of again, but with logical reason this time.

Dark Link had already teleported himself to where Link landed and roughly grabbed him at the neck as though the water had no effect on his maneuverability, and held him at arms length, waiting for him to drown a pitiful death. Link struggled to break free, but his strength at this stage had left him, so his efforts were useless. His sword was no longer in his hand, and the Deku Nut that he did have was useless to him under water. He could only hold his breath for as long as he could but feeling as weak as he did, it wasn't long before he let out bubbles of air from his mouth. He tried to breathe again, expecting his lungs to fill with murky water…

But to his and Dark Link's immense surprise, he gasped air back in and was still, miraculously, able to breathe. Then Link remembered that he was wearing the Zora tunic, which enabled him to survive for long periods of time underwater.

But this still didn't solve his problem, because Dark Link was unsheathing his sword again, and Link wouldn't be able to dodge any more attacks while under water. But as the shadow let go of him to grab his sword with both hands, Link felt his foot land on something hard. Hoping that it was something that he could use to defend him self, he kicked it from underneath it with his foot and grabbed it as it quickly floated upwards. The black blade was repelled back yet again off of the edge of Link's Hylian shield as it swung for his face. He was holding it completely wrong with both hands but it was still allowing him to float backwards to the shallow end while staying alive.

Dark Link was not getting the satisfaction of killing Link fast enough, and decided that he had already had enough. So he gathered up the dark powers that he had learned in his long imprisonment, and forged his weapon with energy so potent that it made the blade vibrate furiously. Link was almost there, but he couldn't get out in time as the demon lunged forward and blasted Link with a huge burst of dark energy, which shot out of the sword. Link could only lift his shield up in front of him as it was hit with such force that it shattered in a black explosion, forcing him to speed straight for the surface.

The sound of the heavy thunderstorm came back in full effect as Link hit wet, but solid ground again. But he was still aware that he was running out of time and scrambled back to his feet quickly and dashed for the long plank that was still intact, but was beginning to drift out of place as the pool was now over-flowing with water. Link tried his best to keep his footing on the narrow walkway as he crossed it, but a furious glow of two red eyes showed that Dark Link was still underwater, and pissed off.

Once Link had gotten halfway, the sound of his sword charging up was clearly heard even as the storm grew louder and louder. Link had almost gotten the whole way across when the huge beam of dark power shot upwards, right behind him, and blasted the wooden plank into pieces. Link could only lean forward and grab for the edge of the bank. Clinging onto it, the rest of him hit the muddy wall as his feet splashed the water. He pulled himself up, just before Dark Link's blade was thrown at him, the sword spiked itself into the spot where Link had narrowly escaped.

Spotting his sword again on the ground, laying dangerously close to the valley edge, Link ran as fast as he could to retrieve it.

Dark Link was not happy at all, and although he was hardly ever frustrated, he couldn't help himself from cursing loudly from under the murky water. Of course, the words only came out in the form of muffled bubbles streaming from his mouth, but it had the same, small effect of anger-relief. Not able to teleport to where Link was because of the large amount of dark energy drained from those last attacks, the dark figure trenched towards the shallow end. Getting back out of the water, he turned around and leapt the whole way across to the other side of the pool, and then reached down to yank his sword back out of the dirt.

Link skidded to a halt beside his sword, keeping low to the ground to keep his balance and not fall over the cliff-edge. Grabbing the weapon, he headed sideways for the bridge. Reaching it, Link continued to race ahead, with little caution towards what would happen next. He hadn't realized that the storm made a simple thing like crossing a bridge so dangerous. The wind seemed to double in force and made the whole structure swing to one side with frightening ease, making Link grab onto the support-ropes to prevent him from being blown off. He held his position for a while to wait for the bridge to stabilize again, and glanced down below him. Seeing the fierce torrents of the river crashing between sharp rocks that would induce the breaking of every bone in his body should he fall, Link became very eager to not slip off the bridge. But Dark Link was already making his way across the bridge himself. The dangerous conditions didn't seem to bother him either as he strode confidently to where link was crouched down, unable to move.

For some bizarre reason, the wind suddenly decided to blow in the other direction, making the bridge sway violently with it. Dark Link stumbled to a halt in front of his better half, a wry smirk on his face yet again.

"So this is how it finally ends…" he called out above the crashing currents of the river beneath them. Link had only one chance left to get him out of here, the Deku Nut. But Dark Link spoke again, "Oh, come on! Do you really think that piece of pointless fruit will actually help you?" He began to laugh. Link couldn't believe it, how did he know what he was planning! Dark Link continued, "Even if you did manage to blind me for a while, you'd still never beat me!"

He was right, it would be unlikely that Link would even be able to swing his sword at him without cutting the ropes off the bridge… But then Link had another idea. What if he wanted to, it was his last tactic and it just might work, or so he thought. Straight away, Dark Link's eye's intensified in the storm, as though he already knew what Link was planning to do. Then in a hasty maneuver to stop Link, he dashed forward, sword raised, but the Nut had already been thrown down before the shadow could shield his eyes, and the unnatural feeling of pain came over them. His attack fell short as he could no longer see his target, and Link built up enough courage to stand up on the tossing bridge and swing his sword at him.

He may have been blind, but Dark Link was still a threat. His long ears perked as he heard the sound of the blade speeding towards him and dodged it. But Link wasn't really aiming for him, and he instead sliced two of the ropes holding up the bridge. He then spun around and made for the other side, cutting the many supports along the way. Dark Link didn't want to quit at this point, so instead of getting off the hanging path, he gave chase, wanting to catch Link before he decimated the whole bridge.

As Link got half way, the bridge was swaying even heavier before, threatening to completely tip over. And the lashing rain was making it extremely easy to simply slip over into the huge drop of certain death. But he still continued to hack off every strand of rope that he passed, making the rest strain even more from the increasing weight. Dark Link was in close pursuit though, and was about to reach his prey when suddenly everything snapped!

The ropes that were holding up the bridge gave way, and all that was left was the long row of planks that held each other together. In a merciful twist of fate, the high winds had stopped, as both halves of the same person stopped. Link hadn't yet reached the other side, but it seemed that if he took another step then the wooden path would snap apart as well. And even if it did hold there was too much chance of him slipping over the edge because there was no longer a rope railway to support his advance. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Dark Link had stopped to a crouched halt, but was still glaring at him, sword in hand.

He seemed as though he was prepared to go ahead anyway and kill Link, not caring for whether he fell or not. But it seemed that Link would never know, because the bridge had ripped apart, splitting between the two fighters as they sped towards their doom. Link had already grabbed his hookshot, and with a precise aim, shot it at the dangling sheet of boards at his side as he plummeted past them. He closed his eyes as his speed increased. Because the hookshot was being dragged down with him, it took much longer for its arrow-shaped anchor to reach the broken bridge. It had only snagged on when all of its chain length had been released. Link came to an abrupt stop in mid-fall and swung hard into the huge stone cliff-side. Thanking the Goddesses more than he thought possible, he released the small trigger on the item's handle, and steadily rose back up.

Reaching the broken splinters of wood, he unhooked his small weapon, making the plank that it had clamped onto shatter apart unsuspectingly. Link grabbed onto the next plank above with his other hand just in time. Not wanting to hang around any longer than he should, Link climbed up the slippery debris and finally made it to the top. Heaving himself back up onto solid ground again, he took a second to check if he was still breathing, and then got up incase if his dark half had made it back up too, and as trying to sneak up on him.

Seeing no one around, Link then looked over the edge, wondering if Dark Link had fallen on down. After a few moments, he finally spotted him quite far down hanging on to his sword, which he managed to spike into the cliff side. Dark Link then looked up, and saw that the Hero had made it back to the top. In a final act of desperation, he kicked himself and his sword off the stone wall, and disappeared, using his ability to teleport back up to Link.

But he still hadn't recovered enough power from before, and appeared just short of a few feet below Link. He swung his sword at him, but Link jumped back, avoiding the attack. When he looked over the edge again, there was no sign of Dark Link. Just the roar of waves and wind from far below.

Link looked up again, and saw someone on the other side of the valley. It wasn't Dark Link, the persons figure was much slimmer than that of his evil shadow. But before Link could identify the mysterious character, the rain suddenly began to stop, and all of the elemental chaos began to quickly fade away.

The storm had already disappeared as fast as it came. The clouds from above vanished and the whole area began to dry up for some supernatural reason. Link glanced down and saw that the bridge had suddenly decided to repair itself. Everything soon looked as though his battle with Dark Link had never taken place. Looking back to where the unanimous guy was, Link saw that there was now no one there…

"Huh?" Link was completely dumbfounded.

He was about to seriously consider checking if he had gone mad, but then a familiar light flew out from his hat and hovered in front of his face.

"What are you doing!" Navi seemed very anxious. "There's no time to look around!"

Link was a bit surprised at his companion's reaction. "What do you mean! Didn't you just see how everything turned to normal?"

Navi was tilting to one side in the air, "Huh?"

But Link continued, "And why were you not helping me back there! It sure would have made fighting that creep a lot easier!"

Navi was terribly confused, "Link, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!"

Link couldn't believe it, "What! How could you possibly sleep through all of that! I almost got killed back there!" Link began to point in a random direction behind them.

Now, Navi was simply worried for her friend, "I've been awake the whole time!"

Link wasn't giving up, "then what happened to Epona?"

"You let her go away once we reached the spring, then you were walking on your way here, looking very spacey, then you just stopped, so I tried to get through to you!"

The elf was finding it hard to take this in, but the fairy interrupted him again. "Look! There's no time to talk about this, it's almost sunrise!"

It was noticeable that the night sky was fading away and was growing brighter in turn for the Sun to come up. Deciding to discuss it later, Link sprinted off in the direction of the Gerudo hideout, hoping that he would make it in time…

End Chapter

A/N: Woah! I've gotta say that that was definitely a very tough one to write. A whole chapter of action! I spoil you. But please, let me know if you found this one enjoyable to read, cause looking back at it now, it seems hard to follow. Tell me if I should lay off the complexity okay? This was also four days late because I actually had to write this out twice. The first version was crap and I couldn't take it anywhere so I restarted it on Saturday. Forgive me if my spelling is bad, I didn't have enough time to go over it. The next chapter might take another week, but I'm off on half term now, so I might find some spare time to update soon.

P.S. I'm getting a DS! I had to import it because I live in Europe. It should arrive soon, I can't wait. But if your reading this and already have one, (You lucky consumer of Nintendo goods…) then please tell me what you think of it should you review. Oh, and while we're on that topic… REVIEW! please