The Battle for Hyrule

As Ingrid charged forth, she raised as many last minute soldiers as she could. She managed to summon three Big Stalchildren before slamming her telekinesis into the enemy army like a wrecking ball. She then, emitted a cloud of black mist around her, killing anything nearby that wasn't already dead. That took care of a large portion of spear-wielding Moblins, but it left enemy Stalfos and Iron Knuckles untouched. She slammed the combined force of her scythe and telekinesis into a Stalfos shield, shattering the entire warrior in the process. She parried a slash of another Stalfos and beheaded it before sidestepping a rock-crushing blow from an Iron Knuckle's ax. She lifted the Iron Knuckle with her power and tossed it back into the crowd, as she had to dodge more swipes from Stalfos swords.

Stalfos fought Stalfos and the Stalchildren were quickly being decimated, though the latter were in such large numbers, it did not matter very much. Things were becoming too crowded for much maneuvering. Ingrid's wide slices gave her plenty of room, however. Along with that, her psychic blasts and black mists were clearing away much of the primary forces. In moments where she did become crowded in, she either cleared them away with one of her magical powers, or she leapt to a less crowded part.

So far, the plan was working. Much of the enemy army was clambering to kill her and destroy her servants. However, they also seemed to be getting smarter. It got to the point that her black mist was useless because none of her foes were of the living. She was mostly fighting Iron Knuckles, Stalfos, and the occasional Poe. The armored knights were unusually dangerous in such large groups, almost requiring her to push them away with her telekinesis. The Stalfos were more bothersome since they had much more agility and had shields to negate damage. The Poes were purely annoying, since they often used hit-and-run strategies. Fortunately, she took the chance to revive any of the slain monsters fit for battle. It was not long before her Stalchildren and Stalfos had been replaced by gutted Lizalfos, impaled Dinolfos, and undead Moblins. She also began to notice a few battle-ready Hylians joining the fight. Everything was going well.

Nabooru led her Hylian and Gerudo troops across the river and toward the battle on horseback. Ramps had been strategically set at the riverside. They could see a few Zora swimming beneath the surface, also approaching the battle. A small contingent of horseback archers halted and began firing from a distance. The enemy quickly noticed them and advanced. Moments later, Gorons began to roll down the stairs from Kakariko Village and used the ramps to jump the river. They ended up barreling into the enemy army before the Hylians and Gerudos could reach them. The Gorons continued to plow through the enemy ranks for a short time before making a u-turn back toward Nabooru. They uncurled next to her and she raised her hand forward. There were many irritated Dodongos stomping forward, while large numbers of Lizalfos and Dinolfos came their way.

"Souls! Come unto me!" Nabooru commanded, as her hand glowed with power. Nearly every approaching enemy fell over as their souls surged into her. "It might be difficult to only act as a distraction. We might very well just crush them. Goron brothers, move in from the south! All archers, fire at will! Everyone else, kill them all!" Everyone did as they were told, while she ran into battle with the top-ranking Gerudos and most skilled Hylians. Even as she took the souls from every enemy in front of her, her companions made sure to finish off even the fallen monsters. This caused quite a few dying Dodongos to explode violently behind them.

The river began to cloud with red as the Zoras did their part underwater. Since water was a purifying element, only aquatic monsters could come here. It was easily the most poorly guarded area. Most of the enemies here were killed with one or two swipes of a spear. Those that attempted to attack outside the water, such as the Octoroks, Biri, Stingers, and Shabom, merely had their souls taken and were easy prey to the Zoras.

Zelda watched the battle cautiously from her hiding spot. Since there was really nothing to hide behind, she was using an old Sheikah camouflage trick that involved standing against an object and using a cloth that took on the appearance of the background. Judging from what she was seeing, there might very well be a siege on the castle instead of a diversion. Ganondorf's forces were meeting nothing but destruction. Her mother was building up quite a large army on her side. Nabooru, who was closer, was doing even better with her soul stealing. Killing the previous Sages had indeed made the rest stronger. It eventually got to the point that there were only a dozen Iron Knuckles left. Ingrid and Nabooru seemed to be acting rather considerate for each other. Ingrid actually bowed and stepped back as Nabooru absorbed the souls of the remaining forces. The armies of Hyrule cheered triumphantly. Nabooru glanced in Zelda's direction as she absorbed a flurry of souls from the town.

"I think we might be able to take it from here," Nabooru communicated to her. "This was much easier than I thought it would be." She spoke too soon as a black tear in space appeared at the gate. Seemingly normal Mecha Koopas began to walk out. From the gate itself, more armored knights appeared. Then, red-eyed, thickly plated Bob-ombs began to accompany the Mecha Koopas out of the tear. Nabooru could not sense any spirits within these new threats.

"They don't have souls!" she called out to Ingrid, who was steadily releasing a black cloud onto them. It was evident that they were not life forms of any sort because the mist had absolutely no effect on them.

The armored knights ran forward at surprising speed. Ingrid dodged to the side of a swung ax and slammed the sharpest point of her scythe into the robots back. Though the Titanium Knuckle was knocked aside, the scythe chipped and cracked. She then focused on simply dodging its unusually fast swings and moving back. It was back to Plan A once again. The Mecha Koopas opened their mouths as they marched forward and blew jets of flame, pushing back the warriors of Hyrule even further. Zelda slowly moved closer to the gate, while staying hidden. Unfortunately, these mechanical beings were forming a perimeter rather than charging.

Zelda knew that her dagger and needles would be nearly useless against their metal hides. She was especially worried about the advancing Bob-ombs since she was the only one who knew what they were capable of. She hastened her pace and stood against the wall of the gate, around the corner from a guarding Titanium Knuckle. She followed its gaze and saw another black tear forming in the field to the west. Her eyes widened when she saw five colossal mechs exit. There were two Big Knuckles, one black and the other white, on the outer flanking positions. The inner flanking positions were held by giant Mecha Koopas. The central robot was a dark Mecha Bowser. She could see missile pods opening up all along their metal bodies. She pondered taking a shot at one of the Bob-ombs in the hope of revealing their explosive power.

Ingrid glanced backward upon hearing the thundering steps of the giants and gazed up at them. Though a long distance away, they were attempting to block them in. She turned back in time to block an attempted strike by the Titanium Knuckle closest to her. It effectively broke the wooden handle of her blade. She pushed the robot away with her telekinesis and used the same power to toss the sickle around it like a boomerang. It managed to disable several Mecha Koopas and returned to her. The Titanium Knuckle charged at her again. She used its own momentum against it and flipped it over her shoulder, stealing its heavy battle ax in the process. Unexpectedly, a jet of flame came her way and her cloak caught on fire. She tossed it away and saw that the Mecha Koopas had reassembled themselves. When she heard the mechanical knight get up behind her, she teleported to the other side of it and slammed its ax into its shoulder. She yanked it out with a grunt and saw a few sparks come out of the broken wires of the Titanium Knuckle. Before it could counterstrike, she used her telekinesis to rip out all the wires in its body. It powered down and fell to its knees. Unfortunately, she would quickly be alone on this side since her servants were quickly being disintegrated and chopped to bits. Fortunately, the Gorons were coming to her aid. Their strength alone made them excellent allies. One Goron knocked over a Titanium Knuckle, pounded it into the ground, and ripped its arm off.

Nabooru had charged her energy into her swords, making them more effective on the Titanium Knuckles. Her enhanced strength also allowed her to hold her own against the robots. She occasionally got the chance to absorb the energy from the flamethrowers, though it was dangerous to simply stand around. The rest of the forces on her side were holding back, firing arrows behind the frontlines. Only the Mecha Koopas seemed to be affected at all by the arrows. They clinked harmlessly off of everything else.

"Zelda, you're going to have to take your chance soon," Nabooru said to her. As a Titanium Knuckle dived at her, she rolled on her back and launched the robot high into the air. As soon as she got to her feet she jumped into a spin attack and sliced into the robots armor, and landed her swords into anotherTitanium Knucklebelow her. The airborne Knuckle smashed into the ground, demolished. Nabooru lifted the impaled robot and tossed it into one of the Bob-ombs. The walkingbomb was knocked over and its eyes became a countdown from three. When they reached zero, it exploded, blowing the Titanium Knuckle and anything else nearby to pieces.

"Aim for the round ones!" Nabooru called out, shielding her eyes from the smoke. All arrows were directed at the Bob-ombs, but none were penetrating the armor. Suddenly, Banzai Bills flew overhead from the mechs in the distance and exploded behind Nabooru's side of the field. A second volley of projectiles thatlanded in the same area did not explode. Instead, they released more Mecha Koopas. The forces of Hyrule were being blocked in from all sides.

Zelda took careful aim at the largest cluster of Bob-ombs with her bow and arrow. The arrow ignited into an aura of fire. She let the arrow blaze across the river and into the back of an oblivious Bob-omb. There was an earthshaking explosion that disintegrated many Mecha Koopas and severely damaged the Titanium Knuckles in the area. Unfortunately, the move had completely given away her position to the entire battlefield. About a third of the enemy forces began to approach her position. The Titanium Knuckle guarding nearby quickly jumped the river and ran toward her. Before it could reach her, a beam of icy blue energy froze the robot solid.

"Zelda, hurry!" Rita called, peeking out of the river. She hopped out of the river and froze as many approaching robots as possible. Unfortunately, more of them were coming from black tears and the approaching giants were firing barrages of Bills and Bob-ombs. Zelda took her chance and bolted toward the gate. Rita had prepared small ice platforms for her to jump across. When the Titanium Knuckles began resisting the ice beam, other Zoras exited the water and attacked head-on.

Blood was quickly covering the ground. But as soon as bodies dropped, they rose to their feet under Ingrid's power. Now weaponless because of the excessive weight of the ax, she was under heavy mental strain because she needed to use her telekinesis to do any damage. She often combined her telekinesis with her own kicks and punches, though it was taking a toll on her. Her hands were bloodied and her body ached, though no one could tell since she was so inexpressive. She had already revived some of the Gorons to continue fighting. When Bullet Bills launched overhead, she attempted to redirect them toward the enemy.

The battlefield was pure chaos. There were explosions going off everywhere. The Zoras were doing there best to protect Rita, who was assisting Zelda. Ingrid was trying to draw off as much of the enemy army as possible, despite the giants only a mile away. Nabooru was holding off the frontlines of the evil army on her side since her troops were staving off the enemies approaching from behind.

Finally Zelda reached the bridge, but was blocked by more Titanium Knuckles carrying Bullet Bill Blasters. She put up her shield in time to block the immediate barrage, but it shattered her shield. She rolled out of the way as one lunged with a massive sword. She rolled behind it and instinctively jammed her dagger into the back of its neck. Sparks came out and it backhanded her, leaving her completely vulnerable on the ground. Before they could finish her, a Dodongo plowed them over and melted their Blasters with its flame breath.

"Oh no…" Zelda sighed just before it scooped her onto its back. "Next time, send a saddle, Malon!" she cried as it trotted through the gate and into the town. There were fallen ReDeads everywhere, presumably having their souls taken by Nabooru already. Rico went straight for the Temple of Time. It suddenly became darker here. It was as if something was beginning to block off the field. Rico took Zelda into the temple unopposed and let her down.

Zelda ran straight into the chamber of the Master Sword. To her shock, the sword was nowhere to be found. "How could anyone have moved it? Evil cannot touch the Master Sword…" She did, however, see that the windows were all shrouded in black curtains, making the room extremely dark. She used Fire Arrows to burn away the curtains. Once the dim light flowed in, it was apparent that there was an evil barrier around the pedestal. She charged as much power as she could into her Shining Ray and launched it into the barrier. The barrier disintegrated and a white light appeared above the pedestal. The light grew in size and intensity. Zelda stepped back anxiously.

The temple began to rumble as the light steadily increased. Suddenly, it became enormous and shrunk back down to the size of a pinhole. There was a loud popping sound and Zelda had to turn away as there was a blinding flash. When she looked, she saw fairies of every color of the rainbow streaming out of the space above the pedestal as if they werecoming out ofa vacuum set in reverse. The fairies all smashed through the windows and flew outside. The last to exit the portal was Geno. He had his cape closed over his from. All that could be seen of him was his mouth and nose since the shadow of his low-set cap and his dangling hair obscured his eyes.

"Geno? Is that you?" Zelda said, with surprise.

"Am I speaking to Zelda or Sheik?" he asked, looking her over.

"It's Zelda," she answered. "I'm glad to see you and the fairies…but Peach has been kidnapped, Ganondorf has an army fighting Hyrule outside the gate, and the Master Sword has been taken."

"I know," he said.

"Hey!" a familiar, though muffled voice called from under his cape. There was a strange, bluish glow emanating from there.

"Navi?" Zelda asked. "I'm glad you're here. Where have you all been?"

"Geno was handling things in the Mushroom World," she answered.

"Wait, how did you survive? Are the others…?"

"Everyone is okay," he smiled. "I borrowed a Warp Star from Star Hill to get to Sarasaland in the first place. It gave us a pick-up and quick escape. I wasn't able to come here right away. Neither of us could."

"The other fairies and I were locked away in Sub Con by something. You broke the seal."

"You mean Peach's dream was real?"

"Yes."

"What were you doing in a place like that?"

"Hey!" Navi yelled. "I was in the middle of a promotion! Why else would I just up and leave Link for seven years?" She came from beneath his cape and Zelda's mouth hung open. Navi was a little more than half the height of a Toad, but she had the bodily proportions of a Hylian. Her light blue aura was dimmed just enough for Zelda tosee the outlines ofherblue body, particularly her limbs. Her center however, was covered in so much light that she could only vaguely see her face. Her wings had lengthened and thinned in proportion to her new form and looked more like those of a very large dragonfly.

Geno held back a chuckle upon seeing the look on Zelda's face and pushed her chin up to close her mouth. "She was in the process of becoming a Great Fairy, so she's a little irritable."

"Do you know how rare it is for one of us to ascend to become a Great Fairy, not to mention skip the Big Fairy rank?"

"Let's go," Geno said, walking out. "We have a princess to save."

"O-okay," Zelda stammered.

"Hey," Navi said, flying up and grabbing her shoulder. Zelda had to squint because of the intense light.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I have a present for you from the Great Fairy of the Depths," Navi smiled. "Hold up your hands." Zelda raised her hands and an arrow with a black crystal on the arrowhead floated in her hands. "You got the Dark Arrow! The darkness will consume all…Wait a minute… Purity and light shall be smitten?"

"Why would she give me something like this?" Zelda asked, putting away the Dark Arrow.

"Maybe it's a Dark Fairy thing… Anyway, hold up your hands again. I have something from the Shining Fairy… Please be Light Arrows."

"Please be Light Arrows…" Zelda whispered to herself as well. An arrowhead was piercing a yellow crystal.

"You got the…Light Arrow!" Navi cheered. "The light of justice will smite evil! That's much better."

"Thank you," Zelda said, putting it away. "Now, let's go save Peach and destroy Ganondorf!"

Ingrid and Nabooru were fighting nearly alone. They had insisted that Rita leave at once, so a few Zoras escorted her back up the river. The archers across the river could do little more than attempt to fight the seemingly endless tide of metal monsters. Nearly everyone had been killed and destroyed beyond usefulness for Ingrid. Nabooru could only borrow their souls and hope to be able to put them to good use. She had given Ingrid her other charged sword, but they were both tiring out. The five giant robots had done most of the damage with their explosive rounds. They cast a shadow over the battlefield, blocking the morning sun. At some point, they would get too close to dodge their stomping feet.

"Nabooru," Ingrid said, crushing enemies with her psychic blast. "Do you think you will be able to disable those giants?"

"I'd need all the souls in Hyrule just to have a chance against one," Nabooru said, impaling a Titanium Knuckle and chopping its head off. "I'm already taking up the spirits of rocks and plants. Zelda's already gotten inside. Maybe we should back off now?"

"Back off where?" Ingrid asked. "We're surrounded, remember? And I don't know any warp songs."

"Well isn't this a load of kagada!" Nabooru cursed. Suddenly, the sky filled with balls of differently colored light. "Fairies!"

The fairies swarmed down onto the battlefield, seeming to squeeze through some unknown force at the gate. The sheer amount of holy fairy energy was enough to burn through the metal monsters. Another black tear appeared before the five giants and the Great Fairy of the Depths came out of it. A white tear appeared beside her and the Shining Fairy came out. They both grew to gigantic proportions and began to combat the giant mechs. As all five prepared to fire, they grabbed the Big Knuckles and pointed them at the Mecha Koopas and Mecha Bowser. They all ended up blasting each other. It was then a simple task of the sibling elite fairies blasting them with alltheir dark and light energy. Twilight filled the sky as they unleashed the entirety of theirpower upon the mechs. The destroyed hulks of machinery fell over with thunderous crash. The two fairies sighedof exhaustion and relief, disappearing back into their portals.

Ingrid and Nabooru could feel themselves being rejuvenated as the fierce fairies swirled around them. They sealed all the black tears and continued to break apart the remaining machines. More Great Fairies of Hyrule began to appearand assistin the battle.

"Ms. Ingrid!" Malon called, riding Epona up to her.

"The battle is just about won," Ingrid said. "The fairies are making short work of these machines."

"I think it's safe for you to do your thing," Nabooru said, releasing the souls of the dead soldiers. Then, all three of them had a simultaneous epiphany.

Zelda stopped in mid-sprint and looked into the sky wide-eyed.

"Zelda," Geno said, turning back to her. "Is something wrong?"

"I've seen this before," Navi said, flying around him. "She's awakening as a Sage."

"Everything is almost in place," Zelda said, coming back to her senses. She looked over the hills and to the castle.