Serenade of Water Chapter Seven The Battle for Hyrule, a legend of zelda fanfic

Disclaimer:
I don't own Zelda. Nope.
It's the sad truth. And well, even
though the indentions are messed up, I've
come up with somewhat of a compromise with
Document Manager when it comes to paragraph
spacing. So we'll keep that truce going. With
dashes for indention. D You will fall yet,
o fiendish document manager!
Maybe if I'd just learn more HTML...

Author's Note:
------Not much to note here. Oh, for those curious,
Super Smash Brothers was a big inspiration on this story.
Shadow Link's new appearance, for instance, is Link's
Black alternate costume - my favorite character to play as.
And Ganondorf's new powerful form is, needless to say, based
on Super Smash Brothers, sword and all (one of his victory
poses is him swinging a giant sword around). Garland.. well,
he's just Ganondorf's son. Yep. And this chapter is officially
the longest in the series. I believe strongly in going out with
a bang - though I may write a sequel. Or atleast a long epilogy
time lapse to advance years of peace. Hmm. Write in your review
if you'd read the story should I continue it or write a sequel.
I may or may not write it either way, but I'd like to know if you
people even like it. p

Added Update: I fixed that little glitch where I called Ganon
"Garland." Apologies, much of my writing is done very late. ;
Do you think I should write the sequel as a second story entirely,
or add chapters to this one?

()Serenade of Water()
----Chapter Seven----
--The Battle for Hyrule--

------A full moon rose high above Hyrule, casting an eerie light
over the fog-covered land below. The storm clouds had passed away,
except for a swirling cloud of darkness above the tainted black walls of
Ganondorf's reclaimed castle. The entire country became enslaved as soon
as Ganondorf returned to his sinister throne, his heartless Stalfos knights
returning from their graves to defend his new keep. And the only three people
foolish enough to challenge the rutheless Gerudo King...

------... were currently walking through the chilly field blanketed in fog
known as Hyrule Field, all but the darkest one shivering from the cold.
----"Can't take a little chill?" Shadow Link cackled, his voice echoing through
the unnatural silence. Not even so much as a cricket's chirp could be heard
any longer, except for the occasional ghostly howls of the wind.
------"No, unlike you, we actually feel things." Ruto said between chattering
teeth. She was currently wearing her red Magician's Cape, but it was far too
thin to protect from the cold.
------"I would expect more from the both of you." Shadow Link mocked. "The Zoran
Domain has got to be chilly in the winter, and Link, you call yourself a wandering
hero, you can't take a little winter wind?"
------"Do you want us to kill you?" Link said with a shiver. Shadow Link cackled
a bit louder.
------"I'm immune to this harsh weather, do you honestly think you'd win at this
large of a disadvantage?" Shadow Link said, before stopping in front of the other
two and pulling out his giant, shadowy blade.
------"What is it?" Link asked, pulling out his Goron-forged blade.
------"can't you feel it?" Shadow Link whispered, sounding like he was almost
getting a sick thrill from something. "The torment of lost souls... Ganondorf is
aware of our presence, and he has sent his unholy Stalfos to stop us."
------"Just what we need..." Ruto sighed as she reached into her cloak to pull
out a pair of magic wands, one red and one blue. Dry cackling filled the desolate
wasteland that was once Hyrule Field as skeletal warriors began rising from the
ground, their eyes shining with dark power through their skulls as they surrounded
the three adventurers, outnumbering them roughly thirty to three.
------"This won't be a problem." Shadow Link said with a wicked grin. "All followers
of the imbecile gerudo will perish."

------Shadow Link leapt and began swinging his dark blade around as the Stalfos drew
near, Link running into battle as Ruto held her blue rod out, the tip beginning to
glow with magical power.
------"How many of these things am I going to have to destroy in my life?" Link
sighed as he slammed his sword down on one of the boney monsters, shattering it
to pieces in moments as he swung it in a wide circle around himself to slash back
any advancing Stalfos nearby.
------"More than either of us cares to deal with." Shadow Link said with a sigh
of his own as he swung his sword fluidly through Stalfos after Stalfos, breaking
their skeletal frames in different ways.

------The air around them grew even colder as Ruto began firing streams of magic
at their foes, freezing many of the Stalfos solid before the rod's glow began to
fade away, drained for the time being. Ruto smirked, still chattering her teeth
from the cold as she ran up to the many frozen skeletons, kicking them to pieces.
"Don't put up much of a fight, do they?" Shadow Link cackled as one of the Stalfos
tried to block his swing only to be broken into a pile of bones.
------"Thirty to one was hardly a fair fight." Link said with a smirk. "They should have
atleast had a hundred."

------As if the very words had caused it to happen, countless more Stalfos began to
emerge from the ground all over Hyrule Field. The three heroes looked around them, their
newfound ease quickly broken as they saw skeletal fiends continuing to arise from the
ground as far as the eye could see. "You just had to say something, didn't you?" Shadow
Link hissed.
------"When I clear a path, we all run..." Ruto whispered softly as she pulled out
a small golden medallion with flames engraved on both sides, emitting a faint glow.
------"What's the little princess going to do to clear a path through these?" Shadow
Link scoffed as Ruto held up the medallion. The golden object began shining as suddenly
flames shot out of it, spiraling over the heroes heads and forming somewhat of a shield
around them. "Run!" Ruto yelled as they began to run while the medallion continued
to shoot flames at the stalfos around them, explosions beginning to shake Hyrule Field
as its magic continued.

------"Gotta get me one of those..." Shadow Link muttered as they ran towards Hyrule
Castle under the protection of the magic, pillars of flames spiraling around them to
destroy any who got too close.

------"It won't last much longer, we have to hurry!" Ruto said as they ran as fast
as they could, the Stalfos chasing after them relentlessly as the Bombos medallion
began to flicker, its power fading away.

------Within five minutes, the group had reached the closed gates to Hyrule Castle,
trapped between the moat and the army of Stalfos behind them that were quickly
catching up. "Shadow!" Link shouted, pulling out his hookshot and standing to the left
a little. "Use your hookshot and aim for the top right corner!"
------The shadow smirked, pulling out his own black hookshot. "So the hero finally
decides to regain his cunning. It's about time you had a bright idea."
------"Ruto, cover us!" Link said over the howls of the Stalfos as both Links took
aim, firing their hookshots into the drawbridge on opposite corners.
------"Got it." Ruto replied, pulling out a bag of magic dust as the skeletons drew
near. She began sprinkling the dust on the skeletons, turning each one into various
objects, some slimes, some bushes, others into vicious berserk zombies that quickly
turned on their allies and began fighting untill they were ripped apart.

------"Pull!" Link shouted out to his twin as the two began to pull back on the hook-
shots, the drawbridge creeking as it shook open, very slowly giving way to the twin
Hylians. Ruto quickly pocketed her empty sack of magic powder, pulling out an orange
cane and waving it around, large orange blocks popping up swiftly all around them to
form a small fortress, the stalfos at first fruitlessly whaling upon the large blocks
with their rusted blades before they began using themselves to build staircases to climb
to the top.

------"Hurry up!" Ruto exclaimed as she leapt up and kicked one of the blocks, shattering
a stairway of skeletons as it fell as Ruto hit the ground and quickly waving her
cane to replace the lost wall.

------"We're going as fast as we can!" Shadow Link hissed as he jerked harder on his
hookshot, the drawbridge not even halfway down yet. "Use your bloody fire rod on
the chains!"
------"I-I was planning on doing that as soon as I made sure the stalfos wouldn't be
giving us trouble!" Ruto said, flustered as she pulled out her red staff, annoyed that
the shadow had a good idea. She shot off a spread of fireballs, several hitting each
of the chains, beginning to melt them as the Stalfos started climbing up on top of the
small wall of blocks. "Withdraw your hookshot!" Shadow Link continued to command, jerking
his own hook out of the bridge and pulling out his sword, leaping on top of Link's head
and jumping up higher, spinning and using the flat of his sword to hammer the bridge,
the impact shattering the molten-hot chains just as Link got his hookshot back.

------"Run!" Ruto screamed to the others as she ran by them in her red cape, the
Stalfos landing with wicked, skeletal grins as the two Links soon followed Ruto
into the castle city. Link tossed a few bombs behind him as they ran, blowing the
bridge up to prevent the stalfos from following as they ran towards Ganondorf's
twisted castle where Hyrule's royal palace once stood. The entire city was crawling
with the redead, but the reanimated corpses were too slow to keep up with the pair of
heroes (and one who couldn't seem to decide who's side to be on) as they ran past the
Temple of Time and into the castle grounds, which were mostly just a large, volcanic
crator now, Ganondorf's sinister keep hovering above on a floating mass of land.

------"Now what?" Shadow Link scoffed as he stared up at the dark castle up
above.
------"Any magical things that could help us?" Link asked Ruto, who started looking
through the bag under her cloak to see. "Like... wings or something?"
------"The only thing I could think of is to make a staircase with this," she said,
pulling out an orange cane, "but I've never built a bridge with no supports before..."
------"Well isn't that just perfect." Shadow Link said with a sigh as he looked away
to see six more Stalfos with armor this time heading towards them. "Do your little
bridge sorcery, fish girl, me and my considerably less powerful alter ego will
cover you." the dark hylian said, pulling out his onyx blade and taking a few steps
towards the skeletons.
------"Considerably less powerful? What's that supposed to mean?" Link protested,
pulling out Biggoron's Sword to join his twin as Ruto waved her orange staff around,
carefully creating block after block to try to make an ample support for a long
bridge to the castle.

------"It means you are a worthy adversary in a duel of blades," Shadow Link said
as he clashed swords with two of the Stalfos at once, swinging his gigantic dark
blade as if it weighed no more than a feather, "but you are still somewhat inferior
to me, as you can tell."
------"Well you have an unfair advantage, your sword's made of shadows!" Link said
with a sigh as he smashed off a Stalfos' head, the body of the headless knight
continuing to fight on without its skull, before having to quickly pull his sword back
to block three blade assaults at once.
------"One of the perks of having an open mind to evil." smirked Shadow Link as
he jabbed his blade through the chestplate of a stalfos, knocking off much of its
rib cage as he jerked his sword out to smack away the legs of a skeletal knight behind
him as he ducked to avoid a wide swing from yet another of the unholy soldiers.

------"Ruto, how goes the bridge?" Link called out as he leapt to avoid the low sweeping
swing of the legless Stalfos, glancing towards Ruto to see she had already progressed
roughly a quarter of the way towards the castle, having figured out a good way to stack
the blocks to keep them well supported upon eachother, using a little heat to weld them
together with her fiery rod. "Be careful!"
------"Keep me covered and I'll be fine." Ruto said calmly as she kept working on her
orange bridge as the pair of heroes continued slashing apart the stalfos.

------"Don't take your own sweet time over there, princess." Shadow Link said as he
looked off towards the city. "The redead may be slow but they're catching up to us
finally... and there's a lot of them."

------Link glanced back as he smashed another of the stalfos into a pile of bones,
the readead getting closer every second. "They're just redead, we can slaughter them
all with ease..." Link laughed as his alternate self busted the last of the STalfos
into a pile of bones to mix with the rest.
------"Don't tell me my ego is rubbing off on your innocent mind." Shadow Link said
with a cackle. "How's the little mermaid's bridge coming along?"

------"A little over halfway there now!" Ruto shouted, before continuing to swiftly
but carefully work on her pathway to the castle. Link and Shadow Link took stance as
the redead drew near, but before the undead Hylians could get in attacking range, they
suddenly stopped, as if someone was commanding them.

------"What's with them?" Link said, blinking, a little bewildered.
------"The tragic side effects of smoking weed, my friend." Shadow Link cackled, knocking
one's head off with his hook shot as they all continued to stand motionless. Then, all
of a sudden, the redead began to wail in agony, their eerie voices howling and echoing
all over Hyrule, their dead skin beginning to bubble as they melted into a pool of rotting
flesh that slowly drifted into the pile of Stalfos bones.

------"What the heck is going on?" Link said, a little disgusted at the sight of it,
before purple flames errupted around the pile of molten flesh and broken bones, creating
a brilliant purple pillar of fire.

------"The Gerudo fool is obviously using his sorcery..." Shadow Link hissed. "One
should not tamper with nature as he is right now..."
------"What's he doing!" Link shouted over the roaring flames.
------"He's creating a creature of his own design from the flesh and bones of his
fallen minions!" Shadow Link yelled back, the purple flames fading away to reveal
a hideous, disgusting black creature before them.

-----It was a little over twice as large as your average human being, having a similar
build of a human body with heavy armor covering it. Its upper arms were somewhat skinny,
somehow supporting two massive forearms, each with five long, jagged, boney claws
protruding out of them. Its chest bulged out slightly, though from the stomache down
it was nearly skeletal, its body covered in rotting flesh except for a long, vertebrae
looking tail with one of the Stalfos' blades jutting out of the tip. One gigantic
sword forged from the five remaining blades of the fallen Stalfos was sticking out of the
abomonation's back, and its jackal-like head had an array of long skeletal horns that
roughly resembled rib cage bones sticking out of the back of it. The creature opened
its shining purple eyes to glare at its newfound prey, opening its mouth
as countless agonized screams sounded from its twisted form.

------Link and Shadow Link stared at the tainted mess of flesh and bones for a few
moments, their jaws dropped in awe before they took fighting stance once more and began
walking backwards towards Ruto's bridge, making sure they kept an eye on the creature
before them, who at the moment was slowly crawling towards them on all fours, glaring
at them as if waiting for an opportune moment to pounce and rip one of them to shreds.

------The pair of Hylians stepped onto the bridge and slowly began walking across it
as Ruto, oblivious to their plight, continued trying to finish it, a little over three
quarters done by this time. The creature snarled at them, revealing a set of long,
jagged fangs, its tail waving ominously back and forth as if longing to taste their
blood, before it suddenly quickened its pace. Link and his shadow took off running
across the long bridge, the creature leaping onto it and chasing after them, quickly
catching up.

------"Try to knock it off the edge!" Link commanded to his alter ego as the two stopped
a quarter of the way up the bridge, readying their swords just in the nick of time,
the creature pouncing Link and pinnng him to the bridge, snarling and growling viciously
at the Hylian hero, the only thing seperating Link's neck from the wicked fangs of the
monster being Link desperately holding the flat of his sword out to hold back the
beast. Link looked angrily at his other self, who was just standing there with a smirk
on his face. "Don't just stand there... do something..!" Link yelled through the
strain of holding back the monster, the creatures tail raising up and preparing to
strike him if he didn't escape soon.
------"I merely thought the adorable little abomination of nature was showing its
affection towards you." cackled the shadow, still doing nothing.
------"Ha ha, very funny, this is serious!" Link yelled, eyeing the blade on the tail
nervously.
------"I couldn't agree more, now drop your sword and let the poor little puppy give you
a few licks." Shadow Link continued to cackle. Apparently, he hadn't gained any amount
of sanity over time. Link yelled as he saw the blade-tipped tail of the behemoth dive
for him, but a dark blade quickly extended to repel the sword as Shadow Link stood over
the fallen Hylian. THe monster glared at him and decided to leave his current prey,
leaping away from Link to tackle his alter ego. The Hylian stood up, brushing himself
off and calmly walked towards his pinned twin, who was now in the exact same position
he had just been in, ebony blade holding back the monster and everything. Link stood
beside the pair and gave a smirk of his own as Shadow Link moved his head back and forth,
barely dodging the stabs of the tailblade.

------"Seems he likes you more than me."
------"What can I say, I have a way with animals." the dark one said, not a hint of panic
in his voice. Before anyone knew what happened, Shadow Link melted into nothing but a
shadow once more and appeared behind the creature in an instant, leaping up on its back
to drive his blade into it, the jackal screaming in agony as it reared back, desperately
clawing at its own back to try to rip off Shadow Link. The shadow continued to cackle
as he clung to the monster, driving his blade in deeper.

------"Almost done!" Ruto shouted out, still not looking back to notice her companions
were fighting for their lives, focused solely on completing the bridge as fast as
possible. Link began slashing at the monster's now exposed abdomen, but quickly had
to begin blocking as the beast decided to use his claws on Link instead. The long
bladelike tail lashed out and wrapped itself around Shadow Link, its blade cutting his
cheek as it jerked him away, tossing him aside. The dark hylian took out his hookshot
and fired it off, hitting the bridge successfully and quickly beginning to climb it,
wishing he hadn't left his sword lodged in the monstrosity's back as his heroic twin
continued trying to fend off the beast above. "Let my guard down..." he muttered
angrily as he halted his climb to begin using his hookshot to swing back and forth,
gaining momentum...

------Meanwhile, on the bridge, Link had the beast at a standstill, though at the
moment he was having to use his blade solely to defend himself. The monster roared as
it continued trying to paralyze its prey, before suddenly Shadow Link hurled himself
over the bridge with his hookshot, kicking the monster in the face and making it staggar
to the edge of the bridge, losing its balance and nearly falling off.

------"Glad you decided to finally show your sorry self." Link said sarcastically as he
spun his blade around, smacking the monster with the flat of it to knock it off of the
bridge, sending it to its doom, the beast's sword flying out of its claws into the
fiery abyss below.
------"Glad you decided to finally make yourself useful." Shadow Link smirked, glancing
over to notice Ruto was working on the last few feet of her bridge. "We'd best not keep
her royal highness waiting lest we invoke her tomboyish wrath."

------Deciding to ignore the comment, Link nodded in agreement and they began to walk
towards Ruto. Though suddenly, they felt the blocks under them tremble slightly.
------"... is the bridge collapsing?" Link exclaimed in panic, looking around.
------"Those sounded like claws attaching to me..." SHadow Link said, before he realized
what was going on. "Run."
------"What?"
------"RUN, YOU IMBECILE!" Shadow Link exclaimed as he took off running, a long, boney
tail jabbing straight through the bridge where Shadow Link once stood, missing him by
mere inches. Link gasped and took off running after his shadow, the tail sinking back
into the bridge as the monster pursued the heroes, scurrying under the bridge, its
tail springing out to nearly impale them every second in the blink of an eye, the
heroes just narrowly acting fast enough to avoid the probably-fatal assaults.

------They neared the end of the bridge, a gap a decent many feet wide remaining as
Ruto tried to finish it. She heard footsteps and turned around just in time for Link
to grab ahold of her, sweeping her off her feet in an instant as the two Hylians leapt
off the bridge, Link holding tightly to Ruto, the bladed tail lashing out one last time
and stopping a mere inch short of hitting Ruto between the eyes.

------The zoran princess shrieked as they landed on Ganondorf's floating island,
looking back as the battered bridge crumbled a little, making a much larger gap between
the bridge and the island, the hideous beast crouching underneath the bridge, only
a silhouette with shining purple eyes that glared at them viciously.

------"Hah! Try to get us now, you stupid creature!" Link shouted out in mockery at
the monster. It roared in combination of the agonized wails of the redead, sprouting
long, batlike wings, leaping off the bridge to fly like a rocket straight towards them.
------"Must you always jinx us?" Shadow Link said, annoyed, as he ran into the castle,
Link and Ruto jumping up to follow him. They turned and began climbing stairs just in
time for the beast to come slamming through the main entrance, smashing a rather large
hole in the wall as it glared around in search for its prey. Shadow Link looked back,
then stopped, Ruto and Link halting shortly after realizing he had. They exchanged
glaces as Shadow Link turned to face them with another enigmatic smirk.
------"You two go ahead, there's no better time than now to play the hero." he
said with a cackle, the beast snarling as it paced around below, still not noticing
the trio. "Besides," continued the shadow, "I cannot abandon my faithful sword."
------"You'll probably die if you go down there, you know." Link warned.
------"Not like I have anything to live for." Shadow Link said with another demented,
out of place cackle. "Though if I'm alive when this is all over, you'll owe me big."
With that, he leapt off the stairway with a yell, landing on the monster's back and
ripping his sword out of its rotting flesh, the jackal roaring and flinging him off
of its back as the fight downstairs began. "GO!" Shadow Link yelled at the two as he
fended off a few claw swipes with his sword. Link and Ruto nodded and took off up
the stairs as fast as they could, Shadow Link leaping over the monster to slice its
wings off as he landed behind it.

------The two heroes swiftly climbed Ganondorf's tower, still hearing the howls of
the Jackal and the battle cries of Shadow Link echoing behind them. "I can't believe
he did that." Ruto said as they dashed across a floor of the tower, reaching another
flight of stairs to continue their ascent. "Isn't he supposed to be evil?"
------"Well, he did need his sword back." Link said with a bit of a laugh. "I don't
think he's as heartless as he wants us to think, but he's still evil."
------"Guess you're right... how tall is this tower?" Ruto said with a bit of a whine,
watching the walls as they ran to look at the countless stained glass windows, most of
which featured the Gerudo King now.
------"It shouldn't be too much further..." Link replied as they dashed across another
empty room to reach the final, excrutiatingly long flight of stairs.

------"Is this the best you can do!" Shadow Link said with a smirk as he landed
from being hurled off the creature again, licking a bit of his own black blood off
his cheek. The jackal growled and turned around to face him, walking to him on its
hind legs almost like a human, flexing its boney claws. The Dark Hylian had several
cuts along his body once more, and while they were slowly regenerating, he was getting
plenty more gashes to more than make up for the few healed ones. "Come on!"

------Shadow Link began spinning his blade around once more as the jackal drew
near. The monster swung one of its massive claws at the dark Hylian, who jumped up
and dug his blade deep into its rotting flesh, ripping out a chunk of decaying skin.
The monster growled in agony as it lashed out with its other claw, only to have it
impaled with Shadow Link's sword. The shadow cackled as he ripped his blade out of the
side of its right arm, taking its thumb claw as the behemoth's tail quickly lunged out
to stab the dark one.
------The shadow did a backflip off of the monster's left claw, slicing it clean off
its body as the monster's tail impaled its own severed hand. The abomination screamed,
tormented redead crying in agony as it lifted its tail back, the claw stuck to it. The
severed claw slowly melted into a puddle of broken bones and bubbling flesh on the
ground. Shadow Link smirked as the Jackal viciously glared at him, but his smirk quickly
faded as the monster lashed out with its remaining claw, grabbing Shadow Link and pinning
him in its sharp, boney grasp. "Wretched... creature..." Shadow Link groaned, trying
to get a good enough grip on his sword to stab the monster's wrists. It roared in his
face before slamming him into the cold stone floor, cracking a large place in it, Shadow
Link coughing up a small spray of black blood.
------"Imbecile!" he cackled despite the black blood dripping down his lips, swinging
his sword swiftly to sever the creature's remaining claw through the elbow. The beast
reared back, roaring in pain as it held up its arms, long broken bones jutting out of
them. Shadow Link staggared up with a smirk, licking some of the blood off of his
lips. In the blink of an eye, the monster lunged at Shadow Link with a roar, pouncing
him to the ground and lashing out at him with his tail over and over again in rage.
Shadow Link quickly jabbed his blade into the beasts chest, ear-piercingly loud screeches
of the redead echoing throughout the tower as the beast and all it was made of cried
out in agony, its tail never stopping its berserk assault for a moment.

------"If I go down..." Shadow Link said with mad laughter as he twisted his blade
through the monster's flesh, ripping it apart, the beast's tail stabbing his arms, legs
and wherever it could reach, "I'll atleast have the pleasure of knowing.. I took you
down with me.."

------The monster suddenly burst into flames for a mere moment, and just as quickly as
it had combusted, the jackal was nothing more than a pile of ashses. Shadow Link dropped
his sword with a dry chuckle, breathing heavily and a little strained. "It feels nice..
to play the hero for a change..." he said, slowly staggaring towards the steps, his
vision blurry, seeming to have forgotten his blade now. "They'd better not start the
party.. without me..." he muttered with a weak cackle as he took a few steps up the
long winding staircase, before collapsing on top of them, a small stream of darkness
pouring down the few steps he'd climbed.

------Link and Ruto climbed the last few steps of Ganondorf's massive tower, walking
into a much fancier top room with nice carpets, silk curtains and large exotic
tapestries, a pipe ogan sounding out a slow, eerie tune as a man with dark armor and
a long flowing cape sat across the room playing it. "Ganondorf.." Link muttered,
glaring at the gerudo king before him.
------At first the sorceror seemed to be ignoring him as he finished his song, before
slowly standing and turning around to face the duo with a wicked smirk. "I knew it
wouldn't be long until I ran into you again."
------"Likewise," Link muttered as he glared at his arch foe, drawing Biggoron's
blade. "This time you won't walk away."
------"I didn't exactly walk away last time, your little girlfriend sealed me
away from this realm!" Ganondorf said with a scowl. Ruto gasped and looked over
at Link, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a mean look.
------"GIRLFRIEND? Is there something you should tell me, Link!"

------"Zelda isn't my girlfriend!" Link shouted in his defense. Ganondorf snickered
as the other two bickered for a few minutes, before drawing his sword. "I thought
this was going to be a duel of swords, not a love quarrel." he said with a twisted
smirk.
------"Look, I'll tell you the whole story after this." Link said, stepping towards
Ganondorf. "Go back and see if my shadow is alive. He might be useful, and if he's
dead you can still bring his sword."
------Ruto let out a sigh of frustration as she started running down the stairs.
"You owe me after this for all these stairs, Link!" she cried back at him as
she ran. Ganondorf chuckled darkly.
------"Good thinking, boy. I wouldn't want my lover to see me humiliated and
slaughtered, either."
------"Actually I wanted to spare her the sight of me mutilating you!" Link said
with a smirk of his own, running up to Ganondorf and swinging his heavy blade.
Ganondorf quickly brought up his own with one hand, blocking Link's massive swing
and quickly kicking him in the gut. The Hylian grunted in pain before Ganondorf
spun around and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards onto the floor.
------"Pity you don't have your precious master sword anymore." Ganondorf said
with a laugh as he walked towards Link, the hylian standing up and getting ready
to fight once more. Ganon swung his sword around a few times at the air blarringly
fast, before stopping it in an instant by his side. "You can barely handle that
blade now, what makes you think you can stop me?"

------"I did it once, I can do it again." Link said calmly as he lashed out at
Ganondorf's feet. The Gerudo King jumped at just the right moment to land on the
flat of Link's sword, plunging his own giant blade into the middle of Biggoron's,
snapping it in half. Link blinked and held up half of a Goron Blade, sighing as
he looked at the jagged edge.
------"You should thank me." Ganondorf laughed as the other half of Link's blade
burst into purple flames and melted. "I made your sword lighter."

------"Guess I should." Link said, beginning to lash out at Ganondorf much quicker
than before, the Gerudo King still bringing up his massive blade to block each and
every swing Link threw at him. "Why am I the only one who can't swing around giant
swords at incredible speeds?"
------"Because you're nothing but a little boy." Ganondorf said, holding his sword
up to block another swing, before dropping down to duck another swing and sweeping
a foot under Link, kicking him to the ground. Link tried his best to get up as
fast as possible, but Ganon quickly kicked him back into the ground, bringing another
foot up to kick Link's sword away. Ganondorf plunged his sword down at Link's chest,
the Hylian rolling out of the way just in time to avoid the giant blade as it slammed
into the stone floor of the tower room, purple sparks flying out of it. Link jumped
away from Ganon and onto his feet as the Gerudo King jerked his blade out of the stone
floor, smirking cruelly at the young hylian.
------"Not even five minutes of battle and you've already been disarmed." Ganon said
in a scolding tone of voice. "For shame, boy. I expected more of you."

-
------Thunder rumbled outside as rain rattled against the stained glass windows,
Link looking to see that, unfortunately, his blade had gone out of one of said
windows and fallen out of the tower completely. Just his luck. Ganondorf laughed
a little bit as he advanced towards Link, bringing his sword up slowly over his
head. "You're a fly I've been meaning to swat for years..." Ganondorf said with
malice. "Goodbye, pesky boy-- AIGH!"

-
------Ganondorf yelled as a hookshot stabbed his shoulder, Link jerking him
closer to kick him in the face. The Gerudo King staggered back, the hookshot
torn out of his now bleeding left shoulder as he glared at Link once more.
"Why you little...!" he muttered angrily, clutching the wound as the young hylian
laughed.
------"I don't need a sword to bring you down." Link said, pulling out the Megaton
Hammer and twirling it around before clutching it in his right hand. "Let's see
how fast you are with a stab wound."
------"I don't need speed when I have darkness on my side." Ganondorf said with
a dark laughter, all the candles in the dimly lit room dying as a chilly gust of
wind blew from out of nowhere, the gerudo's eerie laughter echoing along the walls
of the tower as he vanished from sight. Link blinked, straining his eyes to try
to see where he went, keeping his hammer ready to strike... He heard flames from
behind him and quickly leapt forward to avoid a flaming blade, which slammed into
the floor where he had stood mere moments before. Link stared back at Ganondorf's
cruel gaze, the purple flames reflecting from his heartless eyes before all light
was sucked from the room again. Lightning illuminated the room for a split second
afterwards, showing no sign of Ganondorf whatsoever. "What the... Come out of
hiding, coward!" Link shouted out, swinging his hammer around at random.
------He heard another burst of flames, before feeling a searing heat in his
right hand as the hammer was slashed out of his hands, the purple light of
the flaming sword vanishing before the hammer hit the ground. Link yelled in pain
as he clutched his scorched knuckles, before taking a few steps back against the
wall of the room and looking around. He slid along the wall, knowing he was atleast
safe from any further back attacks now. "Atleast I pummeled you fair and square!
I didn't have to resort to cheap trickery!" Link shouted as he continued to carefully
slide with his back to the walls, feeling around and realizing he was currently
standing in front of one of the elaborate staiend glass windows - and then he heard
Ganondorf begin growling from somewhere very close by...

-
------Lightning flashed again, and for one sickening moment time seemed to slow
down as Link stared at Ganondorf. The Gerudo king had a wicked smirk, his fist
flaming as it flew towards Link's chest, and before Link could react he felt a
fiery fist slam into him, sending him flying out of the window, shattering it
as he plummeted from the tower into the pouring rain, shards of glass making little
cuts all over his body as he fell. Ganondorf leapt from the window with a front flip,
diving towards Link as he fell down the tall castle's tallest tower, everything
still seeming to go in slow motion to Link as he felt a searing pain through his
body. The Gerudo King burst into flames and came flying down faster still, slamming
into Link and slamming him into the floating ground around the castle, the Gerudo
King laughing heartlessly as he kneeled on Link's chest in a smoking one-foot-deep
crator. Link coughed up a bit of blood, gasping for breath as he felt too stunned
to do anything at the moment, his body searing in pain from the assault as the
flames faded away.

------"Looks like I didn't need a sword to finish you off, either." Ganondorf
said with a dry chuckle as he kept pressing his weight on Link's chest, Link
crying in agony. "I've waited for this moment for too long."

------"Looks like you'll have to wait a little longer." taunted a feminine voice
as a shadowy blade jutted through Ganondorf's gut. The Gerudo King gasped, looking
down at the sword as it was slowly pulled out of him, before he was kicked off of
Link. Ganondorf growled as he hit the ground, jumping up, clutching his bleeding
stomach. "You... you wretched fish..." he snarled, lightning flashing behind him
as he glared at Ruto, who was kneeling beside Link to give him a green potion of
some sort. "You think .. a little stab wound is going to bring me down?" he yelled,
as purple flames errupted from his stomach, searing his flesh to stop the bleeding
and healing any damage done by the sword. Link coughed as he slowly staggered up,
still covered in little cuts from the shattered glass but recovered from the most
part as well.

------"Here's the sword!" Ruto said, passing the Shadow Blade to Link. "Lighter than
it looks, surprisingly."
------"So that's how he did it..." Link said, swinging the blade a few times, finding it
to be lighter than a feather. "Thanks... but how did you get his 'precious sword' so
easily?"
------"I think he's dead." Ruto said, looking back at the tower. "He's lying in his
own blood on the staircase, he's pretty bad off.."

------Ganondorf growled as he pulled his sword out again, slowly walking towards the
pair, purple flames coursing through the blade.
------"Ruto, take your cloak and get out of here!" Link said, pulling the shadow blade up
and preparing for what would hopefully be the last duel with the gerudo king. The princess
nodded and darted into the tower. "Ruto, where are you going?"

------Link quickly shifted his sword to block Ganondorf as he began swinging his flaming
blade at the hylian, the two exchanging blows on eachother's swords as they began the
fight anew. Ruto ran out of the tower with Shadow Link on her back, pulling out the orange
rod to quickly repair the bridge she'd made earlier.
------"You're going to save him after everything he's done to us?" Link said in disbelief
as he continued to block Ganon's assault, moving his sword as swiftly as the Gerudo.
------"He's helped us a great deal too!" Ruto said as she put the last block on the bridge.
"The least we can do is give him a proper burial!"

------With that Ruto took off running across the bridge, shouting back; "And don't you DARE
die here, Link! Or I'll kill you!"

------"Got yourself a vicious one, huh?" Ganondorf said with a smirk as he and Link continued
slashing at one another, parrying each strike the other attempted. "Whatever happened to
Zelda? It's unusual for the hero to rescue the princess then forget about her..."
------"I haven't forgotten about her, we're just friends!" Link replied, sidestepping to
narrowly avoid his arm getting gashed as he continued swinging at Ganondorf.
------"It matters not anyway, you'll soon be dead, and the fish girl will join you for
defying me." Ganondorf said with a wicked grin as he kicked Link, knocking the hylian
to the ground and bringing his sword down on him, Link pulling up his shadowy blade just
in time to hold back Ganon's sword, a few purple sparks flying around his face from the
clashing blades. "The Oracle gave no bad tidings of this battle. There's nothing anyone
can do to stop me!"
------"What Oracle?" Link grunted out, straining to hold back Ganon's blade, which was
a mere inch from his face.
------"The one who prophecized you would thwart my last attempt." Ganondorf said, trying
his hardest to shove his blade into Link's skull. "That's why I planted my seed in this
realm just in case - by some miracle - she was right about a pesky Hylian boy stopping
me, as a way to return upon his death. The Oracle set up the ritual herself."
------"How do you know your not destined to forever be a loser?" Link said with a smirk,
kicking Ganondorf off of him and rolling up as the Gerudo King landed on his feet behind
him, Link turning around quickly to continue blocking Ganondorf's assault.
------"It's common sense, boy! I thought you were smarter than this!" Ganondorf said with
a sinister laugh, suddenly kicking Link in the jaw and sending him flying backwards off
of the island. Link shot his hookshot up quickly into the edge of it, and began slowly
pulling himself up as Ganondorf walked to the edge, glaring down at Link with a cruel
smirk. "I've nearly tripled my power, while you, on the other hand, turned into a
preteen again!"

------Link swung himself on the hookshot chain, kicking off of the wall of the floating
island and flipping over Ganondorf, landing behind him and pulling out his sword to
slash at his back, Ganondorf quickly turning to catch the edges of the blade between his
thumb and fingers. "The Adventures of Link end here." he said, his right fist bursting into
purple flames that coursed through his blade once more, preparing to finish off the
hylian. Link leapt into the air just in time to avoid the stab, kicking off of Ganon's
head and landing behind him, jumping back and reaching into his tunic to try to find
another weapon. Ganondorf laughed darkly as he turned around, clutching his flaming
purple blade in one hand and the long shadowy blade of Shadow Link in the other.
------"Now I've got two swords and you're disarmed again!" Ganondorf said, his
lips twisting into another cruel smirk. "What'll you do now?"
------The Gerudo King dashed at Link, who ducked and slid around him as the Gerudo
King slashed his swords where Link's neck had just been like a pair of scissors. The
King turned to glare at Link, but his glare quickly faded to a look of horror as he
was blinded by a bright light, an arrow firing off moments later, piercing him in
the chest. "Urgh...! I... I refuse to be defeated by you again...!" Ganondorf
yelled, jerking the arrow out of his bleeding chest, struggling for breath as the
entire island fell back into the volcanic crator, covering it up, Ruto's orange bridge
beginning to break apart and fall, orange blocks raining down from above around the
two fighters. Ganondorf advanced on Link, about to swing his swords when another pair
of arrows stuck through his wrists, making him drop his blades and fall to the ground
in pain. Link kicked him in the chest, knocking the Gerudo King backwards before reaching
down and grabbing the shadow blade and Ganon's sword, strapping the heavy blade of the
Gerudo King to his back. "There's no way you're surviving this time, Ganondorf."
------"You think I'll die... this easily...?" Ganondorf chuckled, coughing up some of
his own blood. He held up one of his fists, one of the three triangles on his gauntlet
shining. "Our destiny is bonded, Link... untill I have the power of the Tri-Force... I'll
never rest..." The Gerudo King guffawed as his body burst into flames, vanishing before
Link's eyes. The Hylian sighed as he watched Ganondorf vanished; sure, he should be
dead. He's had an arrow to the heart, and one to each wrist. He just burst into flames
before Link's very eyes and left nothing but scorched ground behind. There was no way
any mortal would survive that... but somehow, Link had a sinking feeling this wasn't
the last time he'd see his arch foe.

------Link continued trudging through the rainsoaked Hyrule Field. The storm clouds
overhead had finally vanished to turn this into the first peaceful sunny day Hyrule has
had in a long time. His tunic was stained with blood once more, both his own and that
of Ganondorf, and he had three swords strapped to his back now; the long, shadowy blade
of his evil twin, the larger, somehow more evil sword of Ganondorf, and the two broken
pieces of Biggoron's Blade - Hopefully Ruto's Fire Staff could help to fix it up again.

------Link turned and started walking into the Kokiri Forest again. Everyone had agreed
to meet back here should they be seperated, so he hoped Ruto made it here safely...

------His thoughts were interrupted, however, as he suddenly tripped and fell flat on
his face in the muddy ground. A familiar psychopath cackled behind him as he felt
someone jerk the Shadow sword away from him. "About time I got my baby back..."
------"I thought you were dead..." Link said, spitting out a little mud as he stood up,
turning to face his darker self once more.
------"You won't be getting me out of your hair that easily." Shadow Link laughed, pulling
off another of his bandages, showing a little scarring but no blood whatsoever. "Afraid
your stuck with a psychotic brother for life."
------"You're not here to cause more trouble I hope." Link said with a scowl. "I just took
out Ganondorf, I could take you-"
------"You used my sword too, didn't you?" Shadow Link said with a smirk. "Don't worry,
I rather like you people. You're... amusing." the shadow said with a short cackle. "Besides,
you owe me one still. How about telling me where that little Hylian princess is?"
------"So you can murder her?" Link said, still looking warily at his black-clad twin.
------"No, I've heard some women tend to like the bad guys." Shadow Link said with a grin.
"And since you're dating Princess Mermaid..."
------"I don't know where she is." Link said honestly, before continuing to walk into
the Kokiri forests, ignoring his shadow, who stood there for a moment with a blank stare
before yelling at Link.
------"After everything I did for you, this is the thanks I get? I suppose I'll just
find Princess Zelda myself!" Shadow Link shouted, before running into hyrule fields.
"See if I invite you to the wedding!"

------Meanwhile, hovering high above the Kokiri Forests, an ominous black-robed figure
with long, flowing red hair hid herself amongst the clouds to look down at the Kokiri
villiage below. Her misty green eyes glared down at the people below as she watched a
young Hylian boy in blue run into the city, the boy quickly being pounced by a white
zoran girl as they embraced.

------"Enjoy your time of peace, foolish mortals." the woman said in an eerie,
unnatural voice, her long black robe flowing gracefully in the wind with her hair
as a faint green glow surrounded her, twirling three stones between her fingers,
the hylian and zoran below appearing to be kissing now, though it was hard to tell
from this altitude. "I forsee the end of the world... a greater evil than any the
pureblood line of the gerudo king could ever create..."

End Chapter