Chapter 9: Drawn To The Flame
"Shooting Gallery… this has to be the place." Link frowned, glancing up at the building south of the Village of Outcasts. Assuming that it would be in the same geographical location as Kakriko from the name had paid off. Knocking on the door, Link jumped back as somebody grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.
"Be more careful!" A man with the head of a woolly ram hissed, locking the door. "Don't you know that the Village is Blind's main hangout? He patrols past here all the time, and almost everybody else there reports to him anyways!"
"Sorry…" Link apologized, looking around. "At least I knew enough to take out the eye Vitreous had watching me before coming here. Man, he looked angry." The belts behind the counter were inactive at the moment, but the targets on them were still clearly visible… and identifiable. The closer belt held replicas of Handy, and the farther one of Neosquid.
"Wrong." The ram chided him again. "You took out ONE of his eyes. He got another one on you ten minutes later. Just be lucky WE were watching for you too; Birdbrain took care of it."
"You guys know what you're doing, all right." Link admitted. "Hiding out here, for one… I'm guessing this place's cover is anti-Resistance?"
"Why do you think they look like us?" Neosquid chuckled, popping out from underneath a floorboard. "Blind himself is actually a regular patron of this place… usually after we've done something to really cheese him off. And he's never once suspected that this might be where the REAL us are hiding… he thinks Ramses here is a buddy of his. Come on down, kid." Nodding, Link walked down a set of stairs concealed beneath the trick board. Underneath the small shooting gallery was a much larger area; the hall had to have more than a dozen doors going off on each side. Another familiar face was waiting for them there.
"Hail the conquering hero." Handy greeted the young warrior. "Everybody else is in the meeting room… let's go." The four of them entered a large meeting room dominated by a round table, covered in battle plans, maps, and other paperwork. Sitting in various chairs around it were a truly motley assortment of creatures, most of which were known to Link already; Ballio, Brutus and Kiki all waved to Link (well, the former wiggled a foot). The only three he didn't recognize were a large-eyed bird, a squat brown toad and a green creature with a huge green snout-mouth, like an anteater's. Glancing at the table, Link saw that there was a seat with his name on it, literally; it was on a bronze plaque. Shrugging, Link took it, and the three who had come in with him followed suit.
"All right, you maniacs, we hereby call this meeting of the Rag to order!" Neosquid waved at Link. "First things first, for those of you haven't met him already, say hello to Link, our newest buddy… and the guy who took down Arrghus permanently." There was a chorus of cheers. "Link, you've already met Ballio, Brutus and Kiki, right?" Link nodded.
"Yup."
"Well then, let's introduce the others to you." Handy pointed a finger at the bird. "Birdbrain here is Kiki's partner, and a valuable resource to us since he's the only one currently among us who can fly." He changed his focus to the toad next. "Rabite here is one of our weapons makers… he's a smith, as it turns out, and a damn good one. And finally, we have the Bomb Boy, our munitions man." He indicated the green snouted creature. "And, of course, there's me and Neosquid here."
"Now that everybody knows each other, we might as well discuss what to do now." Neosquid suggested. "What exactly are your goals, Link?"
"Rescue mission." Link explained. "Those seven girls… five now… I'm here to bring them back to Hyrule. I'm sure you all know about the barrier between worlds all too well." They all nodded. "Well, the way it works… is that by bringing them all here, Ganon's managed to weaken it. They're the descendants of the Seven Sages." A chorus of stunned noises greeted that pronouncement. "There's a big, nasty crack in that barrier now… infinitely larger than the ones that made the portals. And it's just going to keep on getting bigger. But if I bring all the girls back, it'll repair the effect… and if I don't, within only a couple years…" His eyes darkened. "Ganon shall return to Hyrule."
"So that's it…" Handy murmured. "This is BIG, then. Apocalypse now, huh…" He glanced around at the others. "Well, we WON'T let that happen. You've got the full support of the Rag, kid… count on it."
"Thanks, but…" Link brought out the Magic Mirror. "You should know… you don't have to do this. I'm sure you all know now… this thing lets good people return to Hyrule. It's how I'm taking the girls back… and you could take it too."
"We already talked about that, to be honest…" Neosquid shrugged. "And we came up with the same decision I made when you offered it to me after whomping Arrghus. Not yet, kid. The fight's not over, and we've all invested too much time… too much of our lives… too much of US to just bail out. When the Eyes are all dead, and your girls are all rescued… we'll gladly accompany you back to Hyrule then. Until that day, we'll stay here and help you out… if we left now, everything the Rag was created for will be meaningless."
"I see…" Link put the Mirror away. "Understandable."
"And besides, it'd ruin the game for these guys!" Handy cracked, and the others all chuckled.
"I don't get it." Link admitted.
"It's a running bet." Brutus explained. "A challenge these two jokers have set for the rest of us." He indicated Handy and Neosquid. "Figuring out which one of these two clowns is the girl." Link blinked at that.
"What now?"
"Heh… in case you hadn't noticed, Dark World transformations can make it pretty hard to tell if somebody's male or female." Ballio reminded Link, who remembered the pink rabbit incident and shuddered. "Yeah. Most of us just say it, but the bosses here claim one of them's a female without specifying which one. We've all got money on our guesses, and we change it around all the time when we think we've got it figured out. If we all turned back to human, then we'd find out for sure… and we're having too much fun speculating."
"Well, whatever." Link shrugged. "So how long have you guys been at this, anyways?"
"The Rag was formed twenty years ago…" Handy informed him. "That was when Ganon abandoned his body, see… no point in trying it before then, since he'd just use the Triforce and drop a meteor on us or something."
"Abandoned his body?" Link blinked.
"Yeah… about twenty years back…" Neosquid gazed towards the ceiling. "One day, he just up and vanished… stopped coming around. The last anybody saw him was when he headed into the Pyramid of Power… which was promptly completely sealed. After that, the Eyes started making themselves more known in his place… so we figured maybe we could do something after all. Me and Handy had been farting around with the idea for a long time already, so we got the few people we knew were anti-Ganon together and said 'what the hell.' And it worked… we were right. No Triforce-powered retribution came our way… just pissed-off Eyes. Ganon was still around in some form… that much was clear when, a decade later, Blind was made the fifth Eye, with the position of countering us…" Neosquid's tentacles drooped. "That was a dark day. But we survived… and we've managed to hold him… hold them all back this long. We've never been able to truly ruin Ganon's plans, or kill any of the Eyes… but we've succeeded greatly at pissing them off and minor damage. Ballio and Brutus in the north… Kiki and Birdbrain in the east… Ramses and Rabite here in the east… Bomb Boy and… and his partner… in the south… and me and Handy running the whole show. And now you're here, kid." He grinned at Link. "You killed Arrghus… which means you can kill the others too. That'll severely cripple Ganon's system, and we'll be able to go back home knowing we finally helped make a difference here."
"All right… fair enough." Link nodded. "About the Eyes… I need to know about them. Everything you've got. There are four of them left, as I understand it… and the only girl who's not being held by one of them is at Ganon's Tower currently."
"Right." Handy rummaged around on the desk and pulled out four sketches… profiles. Link recognized Blind and Mothula, as well as one of Vitreous' eyes… the fourth was strange, a block of what appeared to be faceted crystal with a single eye dimly visible in the center. "The Eyes of Ganon… Mothula, Vitreous, Arrghus, Kholdstare and Blind. Let's start with Vitreous…" He jumped back onto his seat. "Vitreous, Kholdstare and Arrghus all came to the Dark World together, about five hundred years ago… they're family, see. All of them lucked out with the transformation effect… their forms were monstrous and incredibly powerful. Because of that, after a few years here they attracted Ganon's eye. At the time, there was no formal group serving him… only Mothula. But one or both of them had the idea of recruiting the three siblings… and after too much time in the Dark World, the three gave in, and the Eyes of Ganon were born." Neosquid pulled out a map and continued his partner's explanation.
"I'm sure you know Vitreous' role by now… he's Ganon's spy network. Those eyes of his come in seemingly unlimited amounts… kill one and there'll be two more in its place the next day. He seems to be able to control all of them like a hive… if there's a master part, some way to kill him for good, none of us have found it." He showed Link the map; it depicted a dismal marsh that looked strangely like the Hylian Desert. "Bomb Boy and his partner, Bugoff, have long tried to discover that by sneaking around the Misery Mire, where we suspect said weak point is… but then a couple weeks back, the only entrance to the Mire was sealed off. There's no way in or out now… even the air's unsafe, thanks to the constant storms of incredible power above the Mire. We haven't seen Bugoff since… ah well, no point dwelling on unpleasantness. Point is, while taking Vitreous out would be great, there's no feasible way to do it at this time." Link nodded in agreement.
"All right. What about Kholdstare?"
"BAD idea." Handy shuddered. "Kholdstare's… a special case. See, a couple hundred years back, he went even crazier than the rest of them and abandoned his position… declared Lake Cocytus his private domain and threatened that if this wasn't respected, he would bring down an ice age on the entire Dark World… and the scary thing is, maybe he COULD. The lake used to be a normal one like Lake Hylia… but Kholdstare keeps the entire damn thing frozen twenty-four seven by the sheer force of his will. He's by far and large the most powerful of the Eyes… although, of course, not as strong as Ganon with the Triforce, despite his delusion." Link winced.
"Punishment?"
"OH, yes." Neosquid nodded. "Ganon tanned Kholdstare's hide but GOOD and forced him back into his service… until twenty years ago. That was another thing that tipped us off to Ganon not being able to call on the Triforce's power any more… Kholdstare did it again, and this time he got away with it. He's an independent agent now, and completely nuts… anybody who he catches trespassing in the Ice Palace at the center of the Lake is an ice statue, save for his siblings, and even them he yells at."
"So he's out too." Link sighed.
"For now, yeah… he's beyond even you unless you get stronger, kid." Neosquid admitted. "Blind, now…"
"Blind came to the Dark World ten years ago… after a decade of Rag success." Handy growled. "He didn't come alone, either… he was the head of a group of thugs called the Black Eye Gang…"
"Damn!" Link pounded the table. "I KNEW I recognized the name from somewhere! So that's what happened to those creeps…"
"You've heard of them, I see." Neosquid realized. "Unfortunately, we hadn't… we made the mistake of offering membership in the Rag to him, not knowing just what kind of a guy Blind was. He didn't have to be given an offer by Ganon like the others… he volunteered, and he's been riding our asses ever since. His gang's based in the center of the Village of Outcasts now, in an underground hideout." Link nodded.
"That just leaves Mothula. What do you know about her?"
"Unfortunately, not enough." Handy admitted. "She's the biggest enigma among the Eyes of Ganon… been here longer than any of the others, and the most fanatically loyal to him. She's also the most intelligent of the lot… most of her time is spent creating things for Ganon with her magic. BAD things… like the King Helmasaur. And from what we've gathered, she's just about done with something else… something that'll make THAT bad boy look like a cute little puppy dog by comparison."
"Than that's something I need to stop." Link decided. "Mothula's next… where does she hang out?"
"The Skull Forest, north of the Village." Handy reported, shuddering. "Grisly place."
"Most of us will be a distraction again…" Neosquid decided. "We'll stage a fake rescue attempt on Bugoff… pretend we're trying to bust open Misery Mire. That should draw Blind and Vitreous off long enough for you to do what you need to." Suddenly, from above the room, there was a heavy pounding and a raucous shriek.
"Little ram, little ram, let me in!"
"Aw, geez… it's Blind, and he sounds cranky." Ramses got up. "He'll be here for hours… lay low, guys." Link winced as the shooting gallery's proprietor departed.
"Is there any other way out of here?"
"Afraid not." Neosquid shrugged. "Sorry, kid… looks like you're stuck down here for a bit. It happens… and it's not hard to see why Blind's so cheesed off. Arrghus. Speaking of which, you okay after that?"
"I won't lie… I took a lot of whacks. First from Arrghus, and then that beating from Vitreous…" Link sighed, then grinned. "But it's nothing some healing potions made by a friend of mine can't handle. And I've got more for the Skull Woods, before you ask."
"Planning ahead… I approve." Handy pulled something out. "Well, you can go for Mothula after he leaves… in the meantime, how about a game of cards?"
"A little bit of flesh sealant here, a tad of nerve tissue there… and stone is adhered to shell." Mothula murmured to herself as she fluttered around her workshop. "Zektal! Bring me another giant serpent's skeleton! The last failure rendered one of the ones I was using worthless."
"I hear and obey, mistress." Her second replied from the next room over. Mothula hummed a little tune to herself as she began boring a hole for the skeleton to be attached using a circular energy beam.
"I'll use the same measurement as last time here… that seemed to have been done perfectly, at least." Above her, she heard a crash and winced. "Zektal, if you've broken it…"
"A… apologies, milady, but… our master is here!" Mothula's eyes widened. There was only one being who Zektal would dare call "our" master in her presence. A moment later, that being walked in.
"Milord Ganon." Mothula landed and drew her wings about her in an attempt at genuflection.
"Rise, Mothula… and I think I told you to call me Agahnim." The sorcerer chuckled dryly. "I might as well make the best of this… as long as I'm in this body, just treat me as another one of the guys, hm?"
"As… you command." Mothula nodded, forcing down the instinct to bow again. "What can I do for you, my… Agahnim?"
"See, it's not so hard." Agahnim congratulated her. "As to your question… it is the issue to which I just referred. This body… to be specific, as to why I cannot abandon it, now that my need for it is done."
"I… do not know for sure." Mothula admitted. "This is my first encounter with this type of phenomena… I could hazard a guess, but…"
"That is exactly what I wish you to do." Agahnim explained patiently. "Even if you are not sure… you do have more experience with this general field than any of the rest of us. Your guess will still probably be quite valuable to me."
"Well, then…" Mothula fluttered her wings, keeping her voice calm. "My guess… it is a combination of two factors. The first… you are attempting to return to your original body, of course?" Agahnim nodded. "And yet… it has been a full twenty years since you left it in order to wait for your chance at our success here. Twenty years apart from your body… it is, how do I put this, out of shape. Not physically… spiritually. It has grown used to being empty… and it shall be difficult to reenter it."
"Like a mechanical device that hasn't been used in years…?" Agahnim inquired.
"Exactly." Mothula agreed, pleased. "That's it exactly. As for the second factor… it has to do with your current body. Inhabiting it for a prolonged period of time… a period of time in the Light World, with the barrier between you and your true body… seems to have made your soul grow accustomed to its situation. It's reluctant to let go. In other words, it's stuck there… even though you know this body is not your true one, you've been in it so long that it feels like it is."
"Hmph…" Agahnim growled. "Now for the million Rupee question. How can we counter the effect, and restore me to my true body?"
"…I can think of two options." Mothula said reluctantly. "One… within a week or two, I can probably create some type of magitech that we can use to forcibly extract your soul from Agahnim's body and place it back in your true one." Agahnim raised an eyebrow.
"Without damaging it?"
"Please, my lord…" Mothula smiled. "Do you honestly think anything I could ever do would stand a chance of damaging YOUR soul?"
"…Fair enough." Agahnim chuckled. "And the second way?" Mothula squirmed.
"There should be no need for this, but… if the Agahnim body were to be killed, your soul would probably be released into the same free state it has been in for twenty years."
"Probably." The sorcerer frowned. "I don't like probably, Mothula. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the universe will always use a probably to my disadvantage."
"All the reason to instead let me create my device." Mothula insisted. "If you wish, I can get started on it right away…"
"Wait." Agahnim glanced behind her, at what she had been working on. "Is… that… almost done?"
"…I believe so." Mothula smiled, pleased that he was taking such an interest in her work. "The body itself is perfect… all that remains is making sure the soul alignment process takes root, and I think I've just about stumbled upon the correct method for that too. This try, or the next one… will be the finished product."
"Good." Agahnim nodded, examining it closer. "In that case, feel free to finish working on this before going on to the next project. After all, you've put so much time and effort into this… and with such excellent results… it would be a shame not to allow you to complete it."
"I… live but to serve, master." Mothula whispered.
"And don't think I haven't noticed." Agahnim turned and crossed back to her, smiling strangely. "I knew, ever since the day you followed me here… that you would be my finest servant, Mothula. Ever since then, there hasn't been a single day you haven't served me well. I value you highly… even more than Vitreous. Especially now." He walked past her motionless form, squatting on the ground, towards the exit. "Don't let me down… I'm counting on you, Mothula."
"I live but to serve." Mothula repeated as he closed the door behind him. She did not rise, but instead remained there for some time, until the door opened again and another figure walked through. It was not Zektal.
"Hey, Mothula." Blind grinned, as always, but his eyes were melancholy. "I see our great and powerful and awesome master paid you a visit."
"Indeed he did…" Mothula quickly rose, flapping her wings. "I was just…"
"Don't bother… I know, remember?" Blind waved her down. "You and me have always agreed to have no illusions about why we're doing this, unlike the other three… even though we're at opposite ends of the spectrum on that."
"…True." Mothula agreed. "You've never attempted to hide that, which is why it doesn't bother me as much as it might otherwise."
"Just call me Honest Stan." Blind chuckled. "Then buy a used pirate ship off of me."
"You're about as funny as Neosquid and Handy coming down main street in a fully armed war chariot." Mothula grumbled, and the grinning demon winced.
"Oh, goddesses… I had almost succeeded in blocking out my memories of that. Thanks awfully."
"What are friends for?" Mothula began fluttering around her project again. "So, did you just come by to bug me or…"
"No." Blind shook his head. "Mothula… it's bad news. Really bad. It's… not the other three any more, really. It's the other two."
"…What?" Mothula turned to stare at him. "Are you saying…"
"I am." Blind nodded somberly. "Arrghus is dead. That kid… Link… killed her. Vitreous is having hysterics… the only reason he hasn't mutilated the kid with every eye he has is that the Rag have been keeping him completely blind to the punk's whereabouts… putting out every eye that gets near him before Vitreous can send the rest there. Which is, of course, only pissing him off even more. I wasn't exactly in the best mood either… just spent several hours blowing off steam at the shooting gallery."
"Of course." Mothula slowly shook her head. "Master Ganon… he never told me. He didn't say a word about that when he came to visit me."
"He didn't, huh…" Blind muttered. "Wonder why… ah well. What's done is done, and we can't bring her back…" His eyes narrowed. "But if I get my hands on that brat… I'll tear HIS head off and see if HE can grow a new one."
"So… not like Neosquid and Handy, then." Mothula commented. Blind was silent for a moment before speaking again.
"And just what do you mean by that?"
"Stop that… like you said, you and me have always had no illusions about our respective situations." Mothula chided him. "You may have all the others fooled, even Master Ganon, but not me… and yet, I'm not going to tell him. You have a right to do things your own way… and you've always respected mine."
"…Mothula." Blind looked away. "Look, just… don't die, okay? I know you might feel… that the boss is worth dying for. But that doesn't mean you HAVE to. If the kid comes here… I'm not saying don't fight him. Do. But if he does beat you… try to get away. The boss needs you, Mothula… and…" He shook his head. "Just don't die."
"I'll do my best." Mothula smiled faintly.
"All right." Blind nodded, clapping his hands together once. "I'll be off, then… I have to get back to my own place and be ready to defend it if they hit it next. Good luck to you." He departed as well, and Mothula was once again alone with her project.
"…" She glanced upward. "Zektal! Where the heck is that skeleton, already?"
"All right, the cost is clear." Birdbrain reported, flying back into the shooting gallery. "No Vitreous within half a mile."
"Right… we'll be off, then." Neosquid nodded. "Handy'll tell you anything you need to know, kid… and the rest of us'll keep the bad guys off your back. Good luck." The Rag headed off to the south, and after a moment, Link and Handy headed in the opposite direction, sneaking along a narrow path on the eastern edge of the Village of Outcasts.
"So Mothula's base of operations is the Skeleton Forest." Link made a face. "Does everything in this place have a name like that?"
"Pretty much." Handy shrugged his knuckles. "That's what happens when a guy like Ganon gains absolute power in a place like this. Whoops, incoming." He dived behind a tree, and Link did so as well. It was Blind, along with a dozen humanoid soldiers carrying spears and tridents. Half of them had the heads of bulls, the other half swine, and they were wearing familiar armor.
"All right, you idiots, here's the deal." Blind told them. "Most of your boys are patrolling the rest of the Dark World, but the boss says you lucky punks get the Village here. You won't run into any problems as long as you stay in your assigned areas; but whatever you do, don't come into the underground hideout unless it's REALLY important, you hear? Down there are MY guys, and they don't exactly take kindly to interference from authority figures…"
"…Were those who I think they were?" Handy muttered to Link after the threat had passed.
"Knights of Hyrule… the ones who escaped through the huge portal in front of the Castle slash Pyramid." Link nodded. "Livestock, huh… fits what they've become. I doubt they'll be that big a problem. Let's keep going." Leaving the Village behind, they walked between a gap in the familiar solid line of trees. When they emerged in the forest proper, however, the sight awaiting Link's eyes was horribly alien. The air was filled with the same kind of thick, obscuring haze that had descended upon the Lost Woods recently, but here it seemed more permanent… a fixture. And dimly visible through the fog were bones… hundreds of them, most of them grossly inflated. Skulls larger than Link's entire body were rooted in the ground up to their nostrils, eyes glaring sightlessly at the two intruders. "Goddesses… the master of this domain is clearly insane."
"Well, yeah… it's Mothula." Handy shrugged. "No surprise there… insanity is a common thing here, kid. You get used to it-WHOA!" They both stumbled and tried to step back, but too late; the ground beneath them gave way and they tumbled, yelling, into a torchlit chamber below the earth. The underground of the Skeleton Forest was no better; every so often there would be a full human skeleton sunk in the wall as a macabre decoration, and clinging vines covered the walls as well in great masses. "Gah! Tentacled terrors coming in, and I don't mean my partner!" Link frowned; they were the same kinds of rubbery, extremely resilient land octopi that had inhabited the Tower of Hera.
"This should be able to handle most of them…" He drew the Master Sword. "One red… that one's the toughest. If I keep all the others busy…"
"Got it." Handy rested on his fingertips for a moment then launched himself through the air at the red octopus. Drawing the others away, Link began striking not at their heads, but at the bases of their tentacles with the Master Sword. There, they were much more vulnerable, and once they were without means of movement, a few repeated strokes finished each off. As he was disposing of the last, Link heard an explosion, and looked to see the red squid flop over, a smoking crater in place of its head.
"No problem… shall we move on?"
"Hey… Neosquid said you guys had maps of all these places." Link remembered as they walked through the only door into the next room over. "Did you bring the one for here?"
"Of course." Handy did a little shake, and a scroll of paper fell out the wrist hole of the white glove. He unrolled and examined it. "This place is nasty, though… it's not one underground complex, it's several, and this isn't the one we want if we're looking for Mothula. To get out of here… right, we head north." They did so, then jumped as a pair of bandage-wrapped corpses stumbled towards them, moaning.
"Are those mummies?" Link choked. "I've read about some kind of ancient burial ritual, but…"
"Gibdos." Handy recognized them. "Like mummies, yeah, but with a major attitude problem, and this is coming from ME. Only one way to stop 'em that doesn't take all day…" He shook again, and a pair of tiny, compact bombs tumbled out. "Burn 'em up!" He struck the fuses with one finger, and for the first time Link noticed a line of matches bound around it. The fuses lit, and Handy chucked the bombs at the Gibdos easily. The explosions completely consumed the corpses.
"You guys ARE good." Link whistled as they walked on.
"Practice." Handy explained deprecatingly. "We can't beat the Eyes, but we're the next best thing. Ah, here's the exit."
"Wait." Link pointed to the north of the room, where a huge treasure chest sat. It was separated from them by a huge gap in the floor, filled with spikes… and in the air above the gap, blades swung like pendulums. "Heavy gear… anything about that on the map?"
"It says there's another way into the room, through the back." Handy raised a single knuckle above the tinted glasses on the backs of his fingers, emulating an eyebrow. The wall in question was blank with no doors. "Some kind of secret passage, maybe… it'd fit Mothula's style. But that chest looks locked, regardless."
"So we'll find the key in another area, then get to it." Link shrugged as they walked up the exit staircase. "It'll probably be something useful… ugh." He grimaced as he saw that they were leaving through the open, grinning jaw of another giant skull. "Have I mentioned that I severely disapprove of this place's décor?"
"Yeah… and it gets worse." Handy pointed at a long line of spine and ribs planted in the ground to form a tunnel. Grimacing, they walked under it and soon located another open-mouthed skull. "Map says this goes to another area."
"Right…" Link looked around the room they emerged in. "Two doors… which one do we take?"
"One on the left will take us closer to Mothula." Handy reported. "One on to the north leads to a dead-end."
"One on the north it is, then… just to see what's there." Link decided, then frowned. The door in question was firmly sealed with a metal shutter. A pair of walls extended out from either side of it, forming a narrow tunnel, and on the floor of that was a large button. Stepping on it, Link confirmed that it opened the door; however, it reverted as soon as he stepped off.
"I'll hold it down." Handy offered.
"Nah, this is a simple logic puzzle." Link explained, grabbing something else; an ornamental statue in the room. Grunting, he began pulling it.
"Aha!" Handy took hold of another portion near the base and helped, and together they pulled it towards the door behind them, leaving it on the switch. The room beyond held only a large key on a wall. "Hold it. This feels like a trap. Let me go first…" Before Link could protest, the white glove crept forward. "Hm… so far so good…"
"Look out!" Link yelled suddenly, seeing a shadow appear on his friend. Something was dropping quickly, but before it could land Link swung wildly. It turned out to be another hand, but unlike Handy, it was a gross, dead-looking limb huge enough to hold either of them easily.
"Wallmaster!" Handy hissed. "Kill it before it gets away!" Link nodded, savaging it with the Master Sword.
"What the heck is it, anyways?"
"Nasty buggers… they ambush you when you're not looking." Handy explained. "Grab you and haul you off… fortunately, there's some instinctual behavior that not even the Eyes have been able to override, and instead of a permanent capture they just kick you out the way you came in. Still annoying, though-now what in the heck is that?" He indicated something that had slid out from between bricks in the floor; golden stars of light, forming a flat, whirling spiral. It sped forward at Link, and his defensive stroke from the Master Sword went right through it. It hit him, covering him with energy… and transforming him into a pink bunny once again.
"AUGH! The HELL!"
"So that's what you look like over here." Handy snickered. "Very cute. But bad news, I suppose…"
"You're damn right!" Link growled. "I can't even hold a sword like-whoa." He popped back to his human form. "Phew… only temporary. But still… that could be disastrous at the wrong time. I'll have to watch out for those."
"Yeah, yeah…" Handy grabbed the key. "Right, back outside and find the way to that chest… probably another hidden pitfall." They soon found it, hidden in a clump of bushes; dropping in carefully landed them in a small room with a wall lever. Shrugging, Link pulled it… and they both jumped as the south wall EXPLODED, blowing itself to pieces right before their eyes and revealing the huge chest on the other side of it.
"…That works, I guess." Handy muttered after a moment.
"…Yeah." Link agreed. He opened the chest and pulled out a rod; a simple, red-and-white metal shaft, about a foot long. On one end, above some flame decorations, was a single, spherical crystal of deep red. And it looked familiar.
"What is THAT?" The white glove wondered. "Some kind of magical artifact?"
"Yeah… I've got another one like it." Link muttered. "The Ice Rod… so this must be…" He focused, and a burst of flames flew out from the crystal, causing Handy to yelp. "The Fire Rod."
"Huh… well, that's pretty cool." Handy admitted. "And that ain't all… check out the defenses." Link did so and realized that the blades in the air had retracted. "They did that when you opened it… so somebody who could fly could get across now. Of course, that doesn't do much for us…"
"Care to place a wager on that?" Link smiled, pulling out his Hookshot. Grabbing one of Handy's fingers, he fired at the wooden doorframe of the exit and pulled them both across.
"Could you WARN me next time you're going to do that?" His friend complained as they walked back out and through the ribcage tunnel again. "As if I don't have enough freaking me out about this place already!"
"I'll try." Link promised. "Right, back into the second area, and this time we take the left door." They did so, and soon emerged in the outside Skull Forest again, in a new area. To the northwest, they found the most grotesque sight yet; a huge, building-sized skull with insectlike legs around its base, inhuman fangs and three eye sockets.
"This is the place." Handy realized. "Ready to take on Mothula?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Link nodded. "Let's go!" The two of them walked in and found themselves in a long hall. Several Gibdos stalked forward, and Link whipped out the Fire Rod, torching them all before they ever got near. The door behind them was closed tightly; further examination located several torches scattered in nooks throughout the room. "I've seen something like this before… just light 'em all." He pulled out his lantern and started doing so; however, when he was done, the door did not open. "Or… not."
"Here's why, boss." Handy pointed out. "They're rigged… don't stay lit for long. You gotta hit them all quickly. Mothula could, with her energy beams, but not too many other people could."
"Unfortunately for Mothula… I'm one of those people now." Drawing the Fire Rod again, Link ran forward across the room, whipping it left and right as he passed each torch and lighting them from far off. When he reached the door, it was wide open, and he and Handy slipped through easily. The next room held a Gibdos, a blue land octopus, and another spinning circle of golden sparkles. Link swore upon seeing the last.
"I'll get it!" Handy leaped to intercept the whirl as it launched itself… and passed through it with no effect. "Or… not?"
"Take the bandage boy!" Link yelled as it transformed him. "He's the bigger threat!" Handy nodded and took out another bomb while Link ran around frantically, distracting the enemies. An explosion behind him informed him that one of them had been dealt with, but he kept running regardless until he changed back, and turned to hack the octopus to shreds. "Something's wrong here… missing…" He realized what it was and dived out of the way just in time to avoid the Wallmaster's grab. Growling, he turned and killed it as well.
"Right… narrow room up ahead." Handy instructed as they walked through the door. "Something seems off about it, though…" As they both stepped through, they realized what it was. About five seconds later, they simultaneously grunted profanities as they slammed into the basement room.
"I figured it out." Link growled as he picked himself back up. "The floor's removable."
"Gee, you think so, Nayru?" Handy muttered, rising as well. "Now, where are we…"
"The answer to that is, 'right where I want you,' I'm afraid." A hissing voice informed them. The light in the basement increased, revealing Mothula squatting on the floor before them. All around, the walls of the small room were covered in foot-long spikes.
"Aw, man… we fell into a trap, literally!" Link realized as the room began humming mechanically.
"Exactly… I knew you had come for me as soon as you neared the front door!" Mothula began beating her wings. "And so I retired to my battle chamber. Prepare to face the wrath of Mothula of the Eyes of Ganon!"
"I'd be more impressed by that if I hadn't already killed your buddy Arrghus." Link snarled as Mothula rose into the air. "You'll be seeing her again soon!"
"She was the weakest of us five… and had spent far, far less time in the servitude of milord Ganon than I have!" Mothula informed them. "I will not fall anywhere near as easily!" Link stumbled as, below his feet, the floor began moving; first in one direction, and then another, shifting every few seconds. Handy was affected even more, but Mothula flew above them, cackling. "Surprised? And that's not all I've fitted this room with!" With a rumble, a portion of the wall extended outward, spikes first. Link and Handy barely managed to scramble away in time to avoid being crushed as it hit the opposite side of the room, then retracted. A moment later, another portion flew out, and again they barely avoided it. "How confident are you NOW?" She gloated, then frowned as she saw Link's smirk.
"More than ever." He informed her. "If you have to rely on these tricks and traps in a fight… then you must not have all that much strength yourself to back it up. Compared to the other Eyes, at least. See, Handy here and his friends have told me about you. You're the brain of the Eyes… the genius. You're even working on some top-secret project for Ganon right now-that's why we came here, to put a stop to that. But nobody's gifted with everything. You claimed Arrghus was the weakest, and maybe if we're taking all factors into account, that's true. But if we're talking fight capability only… I don't think YOU'VE got any room to talk about her." Sidestepping another wall of spikes, he extended the Fire Rod, and Mothula hissed in surprise.
"You found THAT?"
"Indeed… not very smart of you, to hide this so close to you." Link shook his head. "Because if there's one thing I know about moths… it's that they burn REAL good." A blast of flames struck Mothula and clung to her, raging over her body. Shrieking, she returned fire.
"Don't be quite so quick to dismiss my strength!" A triple blast of energy descended, striking both Link and Handy. The latter stumbled, groaning, but Link just shook it off.
"Not enough… not even close." He blasted Mothula again with the Fire Rod, and again and again, and soon her entire body was a mass of flames. "You're finished." He waited for the charred wreck to fall… but it did not, fluttering closer to him on the remnants of her once-proud wings.
"You… young… fool." Mothula grated. "These flames… are nothing… compared to my lord Ganon!" She finally fell… onto Link, bearing him to the ground bodily with her mass, and spreading the flames to him. "I am not like Arrghus, pup! I followed my master here willingly, when I heard that he had been banished to this place! I consigned myself to this hell, to this monstrous form, so that I could be of service to him forever! Why do you think I became a moth? HE is the flame I was drawn to! GANON is mighty… Ganon is power beyond your comprehension! Compared to him, your flames are barely a spark!" Struggling to reach his pack, Link finally pulled out what he had been searching for.
"Is that so… then let's see how THIS light affects you." He shoved the Magic Mirror into her face, and Mothula flew back as if launched from a cannon, screaming even louder than Arrghus had. Jumping to his feet, ignoring the traces of flame that still clung to his tunic, Link ran at her, drawing the Master Sword. Seeing him approach, Mothula's eyes widened.
"You… you're back!" And then she screamed as Link severed first one wing, and then the other, and she fell to the ground. He raised his sword to finish her… then paused.
"I'm… back? You… recognize me?"
"Of course I do…" Mothula whispered. "I saw you only once, but I remember that day clearly… you had broken into my fortress, mine and my sisters, and freed four captives we had taken… defeated four of our finest warriors. Impressed, I made you one of our fellowship… not knowing until too late that you were King Ganondorf's greatest enemy… the one who I heard, far too late, eventually struck him down. And now, after all this time… you come to face him again. No wonder I fell to you… against powers like yours and his… I am nothing. All of us… are nothing." She chuckled dryly. "You are too late, however… I completed my masterwork minutes before you arrived. My second, Zektal, has already taken it to Lord Ganon. And so I die… my last act… serving… the one… I have… always…" The light in her eyes faded and was gone. Link stood up and watched the crystal descend from the ceiling.
"You must be Link… I am Lily, daughter of Morris. Thank you for coming."
"It's my job." Link sighed, sheathing the Master Sword. "Always has been… and from what I know… maybe always will be." Lily glanced down at Mothula.
"That one had some strange beliefs… we talked on occasion. She told me the prophecy of the Great Cataclysm… that if somebody took the Triforce who could not hold all three of its aspects… than those who took the other aspects would be destined to rise against him. Those three would be fated to clash, and the aspects could be rejoined only if one of the three killed the other two… and if they did not… then their struggle would continue, forever. Mothula claimed it was all legend and myth… that the only power remaining fully was her master's. But now I see that that's not the case. You have returned as well… and Zelda also has more power than the rest of us… we can feel it. Link, in order to triumph… you and Zelda must stand together against Ganon, as you did before."
"I'm not…" Link paused. "Look. I'm not going to fight Ganon… there's no reason for me to. I can stop him without doing so."
"We shall see." Lily shrugged. "But more and more… it seems fate is moving you towards him once again. Be ready for anything, Link." She shrank, and Link turned to Handy.
"Let's go… let's leave this cursed place." Handy nodded his fingers, and didn't say a word as Link hookshotted them out of the room. It was only when they were about to leave the complex that he spoke again.
"You… took her down, just like that. I couldn't do a thing… it was all I could manage to dodge that room's traps. I never got a single attack in… but you moved around them like they weren't even there and blew her away." He glanced at Link. "Kid. There's something I gotta know. You're named Link. Did you have an ancestor… by that name too?" Link started to reply, then frowned as they neared the entrance.
"There's a lot of light out there… I thought this place was dark as heck…" He fell silent as they walked out. Around them… the Skull Forest was burning. Flames covered the trees and the bones equally without distinction in a hellish blaze converging on them. "What… what the hell is this?"
"GLAD YOU ASKED!" Blind screamed, blasting out of a cluster of flames. "It's called a funeral pyre, kiddies! For my friend Mothula, and for YOU TWO… 'cause for this, there's no way I'm letting you out of here alive!"
"Shit, him again…" Link glanced at Handy. "Looks like you're coming back to Hyrule with us!"
"I…" Handy glanced around. "But I can't… not just yet!"
"You can come back here through a portal if the fight means that much to you!" Link yelled at him as the two of them scrambled through the blaze, running from the maniacally laughing Blind. "He's serious this time… there's no way out of here except the mirror! If you don't come with me and Lily he'll KILL you, here and now!"
"Dammit…" Handy shook off a few cinders that had fallen on him. "You don't understand, I…"
"You're out of here, is what you are!" A voice from above cried. "Just call us the rescue heroes! Except, you know, don't actually. That sounds lame as hell." It was Neosquid, clinging to one of Birdbrain's legs as the avian Rag member flew through the smoke. "Grab on!" Handy did so, and they began flying off. "Keep him off us for one minute, kid, that's all we'll need!"
"Sometimes those two irritate me." Link growled, turning to face Blind. "All right, ugly. Let's go!"
"You want to fight me here and now after all, do you?" Blind snarled, the grin never leaving his face despite his obvious fury. "Brave, kid… letting your buddies escape while you take the fall! But…" He suddenly jumped over Link. "It's not happening! Give me more credit than THAT!"
"I am… credit not to be an idiot!" Link yelled. "You don't WANT them… I'M the one who killed Mothula, and me alone! I KILLED HER, Blind… now, what are you going to do about it!" Blind stopped, and his head turned around… rotating fully backwards.
"Well, since you put it THAT way… let's dance!" He charged, rotating his body around as he did, spewing more flames. Link jumped back, but not quick enough to avoid all the damage; some of the fires touched him, and he fell, grunting.
"Lily… in my pack, look in the mirror!" He growled. "Look at it and it'll take you back to Hyrule, while I'm keeping this guy busy!"
"Making every second count, huh?" Blind growled, reaching out with one massive hand and slamming Link against a burning tree. "Tough luck for you… I won't NEED a minute to finish you, brat!" He grinned viciously as the flames from the tree crept onto Link. "Now then… how to do this? More fire, or do I just rip your head off? Or…" His eyes began glowing. "Maybe I should just burn your eyes out and leave you here to die? You need to be able to see to use that mirror of yours, I bet…" Link struggled to break free, realizing that he was right.
"Dammit…" There was a clattering in his pack, and something fell out. Blind glanced down at it.
"Eh… AUGH!" He stumbled back, clutching his face. It was the Magic Mirror that he had looked out, knocked out by Lily, who was even now fading away. Dropping, Link grabbed it and stared into it as well, ignoring the furious screams of Blind… and a moment later, he was back in Hyrule, in the grove of the Master Sword. Stumbling, he fell to the ground, wounds finally taking their toll on him, dragging him into unconsciousness.
"That…" He muttered as the darkness overwhelmed him. "Guy… is really starting… to piss me off."