Fledge was the first to stir, just as the sun was beginning to fill the room. He quietly rose with a long stretch, though it was hardly satisfying, after sleeping on the cold, hard rock all night. Groose rose next, tiredly rubbing his eyes and checking his face for drool. Between them, Link remained asleep, though they could tell by his face and the posture of his body that it was less than restful. They exchanged glances and nodded to one another, agreeing to let Link continue sleeping for as long as he could. The elder woman stood nearby and offered them a nod as well, commending their unspoken decision.
Unfortunately, fate would not be as kind to Link as those who cared for him were.
A streak of dust fell from a nearby wall, catching Fledge's attention. Several seconds passed, and more dust began to fall, this time from the ceiling. Fledge noticed a nearby heap of loose stones shift, causing the top-most rocks to tumble down. They all heard what sounded like thunder rolling in the distance, muffled by the walls of the temple. After a time, the thundering died off, and the rocks settled. All took turns exchanging glances in the momentary silence.
Then, the entire temple began to shake, and the air was filled with a violent, otherworldly roar, rousing Link at once. All three boys tried rising to their feet but were forced to hold to the wall to keep themselves upright. Fi emerged from the sword urgently.
"Master."
"Is it him?" Link asked.
"Yes, Master. The Imprisoned is attempting to break free from the seal."
"What do we do?" Fledge shrieked.
"Link?" Groose asked.
Braced against the wall, Link stood strangely still, eyes closed and head lowered. A part of him felt immobilized by despair. He felt he would forever be locked in an endless cycle of fighting the Imprisoned. The thought nearly depleted him, worsened by not knowing if he would ever get Zelda, the real Zelda, back. His fingernails began to dig into the rock as he thought of this. Still, he was reminded of the lesson he was given by the Goddess Nayru. There were others relying on him. Even with his own eyes closed, he could feel the anxious gazes of his friends. He thought of those who had helped him on his journey thus far, and those who were still in the sky, blissfully unaware of the evil that threatened them.
With a slow, steady deep breath in, Link's fierce, green eyes landed squarely on Groose.
"Get to the Groosenator," Link instructed. "Be ready in case I can't reform the seal in time. Wait for my signal."
"Yeah!" Groose shouted. "That's what I was waiting to hear."
With Groose in full agreement, they exited the temple. They found the Sealed Grounds growing dark with storm clouds and malice, which seeped up from the seal far below them. The trees and their leaves were tussled loudly in the aggressive and cold wind, and the woodland creatures could be seen scattering frantically. Link began his descent while Groose readied the Groosenator. The elder woman and Fledge looked on.
"Fledge," Groose called. "You're going to have to watch after Granny this time. If things start going south, get her back into the temple."
"Aren't things going south already?!" Fledge yelled back.
Link jumped from level-to-level until the space between them became too far to fall from, at which point he darted down the spiraling path as fast as he could. He drew the Master Sword, hearing the satisfying sound of the metal gliding against its sheath. Fi emerged and soared down the path beside him.
"Remember," she said, "should the Imprisoned break free, then I will be with you to aid you however I can."
Together they sped toward the bottom, yet Link did not have enough time to even charge a skyward strike. The ground began to vanish, revealing the large, dark, abyss, from which they could see flashes of lightning. The entire Sealed Grounds was covered in complete darkness, broken only by the flashes of light coming from deep within the gaping pit. In the darkness, they began to hear the growling and wheezing breaths of the Imprisoned. As the darkness faded, the scaled, shadowy beast appeared, with his demonic red eyes fixed upward on the Sealed Temple.
Fueled by rage, Link charged a skyward strike and immediately sent the light barreling into the beast's lower jaw. With the full power of the Master Sword now added, the strike was enough to make the Imprisoned recoil slightly. The beast roared and snarled, quickly ducking down to take up the green-clad hero in a vicious bite. Link dodged, and the Imprisoned followed up with a swift swipe of his foreleg. Link dove out of the way, trying to keep the monster's gaze squarely on him. He managed to keep the monster at bay for a time, however, the Imprisoned landed a direct hit, sending Link soaring through the air and crashing to the ground. The beast was quick to begin its ascent up the spiraling path, faster and more furiously than ever.
Link caught his breath, and after determining that he was uninjured, he gave chase. Recalling his previous battle, Link knew his best chance was to get ahead of the monstrous being, so he ran underneath, narrowly avoiding being crushed by its massive legs and deadly claws. Fi sped ahead and flew around the Imprisoned. It snarled bitterly at her bright sapphire light and slowed considerably as it attempted to snatch her out of the air. This gave Link time to clear the beast, running several feet ahead before turning to face it. He looked over his shoulder, caught Groose's gaze, and nodded.
"That's the signal!" the brute exclaimed excitedly. "Let's see if this bad boy works after all. I mean, of course it works, I-"
"Just fire it!" Fledge shrieked.
With the swift pulling of a lever, the Groosenator launched the massive bomb flower into the air with frightening speed. The bomb collided with the side of the beast's head and exploded, rocking the air and the ground alike, and nearly blinding everyone with its fiery display. The Imprisoned howled and fell to its side. With an impassioned shout, Link raised the Master Sword with both hands, then swung downward with every ounce of strength he had. The light which came from the sword appeared like a line of blue fire speeding toward the downed Imprisoned. It hit right on the pillar near the top of its head, and the gargantuan demon flinched and wailed in pain. Link raised the sword, ready to deliver another blow, when suddenly the ground underneath both him and the Imprisoned shifted, causing Link to stumble.
"Brace yourself, Master," Fi called out.
A section of ground broke loose. Link and the Imprisoned began to plummet down to the next tier of earth. They landed and were immediately showered in rocks and dirt. The Imprisoned's landing caused more ground to give way, and Link found himself once more falling with the scaled demon. They hit the bottom of the Sealed Grounds with a terrible thud. The Imprisoned hurled its tail this way and that. The spiked tail slashed across the wall nearest to Link, and the boy was showered in more rock and soil. This time, however, much of it piled up on top of his left leg. He struggled to pull himself free, yet all of his efforts were to no avail. Worst, the sword had fallen just out of his reach.
"Link's trapped!" Fledge gasped.
Groose hustled off to get another bomb flower. Much to his dismay, he found that the place where it grew from had been covered by a fallen tree, likely downed by the bomb blast from before. Groose tried to climb it, but it was too wide, even for him.
"Fledge, we've got a problem," he called out.
"We've got another problem!" Fledge shouted back. "Get over here, quick!"
Groose ran back and found Fledge pointing at the nearby ground. Groose could not see anything at first. However, the closer he watched, the more he saw that the ground itself was rising. Groose scooped up a rock, almost bigger than his own hand, and raised it over his head, ready to clobber anything that would emerge. Fledge ducked behind Groose, who, to his amazement, did not seem to mind. Both waited in grueling anticipation until the ground finally opened up, and a beige-furred creature with sharp claws and teeth came forth. Fledge shrieked, the creature screeched, and Groose gave a loud shout as he hurled his arm downward.
"Wait!" the creature wailed. "I've come to help!"
Groose managed to stop himself mere inches from the pointed-nosed thing. The creature took several heaving breaths, trying to collect itself after nearly being bashed to death.
"I've... come to... help Link..." he uttered between breaths. "I'm a Mogma. The name's Cobal."
"Hey, Link told me about you," Fledge said, a small smile appearing on his features.
"We got word that something bad might be going on here soon," Cobal said. "Knowing Link, we knew he'd be hankering to try to put a stop to it, so here we are."
"Who's we?" Fledge inquired.
One-by-one, more heaps of earth began to appear. From each emerged other furry critters with long snouts and beady eyes. One of them was covered from head to tail in long, gray fur.
"I am Guld," he said, bowing his head to Groose and Fledge. "How can we help?"
"Well," Groose sputtered. "We're trying to hit the Imprisoned with a big bomb flower we found, but now we can't get to it."
"Would a few dozen smaller ones do the trick?" Cobal asked.
"It would be better than nothing."
Cobal turned to face his brethren.
"You heard him! Dig up every bomb flower you can and bring them back here, pronto!"
The Mogmas sped back into their holes, in search of bomb flowers hiding underground. As the first few bombs were quickly loaded onto the catapult, Fledge turned his attention back to the lowest level of the grounds.
"Uhh, Groose," Fledge drawled nervously.
The Imprisoned was beginning to recover, slowly rising to its feet as it gathered its strength. Link scrambled to try to push as much of the rock and dirt off himself as he could, yet with each passing moment he realized he could not do so fast enough. A sense of panic began to bubble up from his stomach. He could hear his heart raging in his head, and he could feel his breathing becoming erratic. The Imprisoned slowly turned toward him. Link's stare widened as he saw the look of death on the beast's face. The scaled demon reared back and began a raging charge toward Link. The lad threw his hands over his head and held his breath, saying a swift prayer for a miracle. His head rattled as the beast drew closer, shaking the ground with each lunging step.
Then, suddenly, the sound abruptly ceased, replaced by the Imprisoned roaring bitterly and angrily. Link's forest green eyes shot open, and he found that the Imprisoned was now struggling to move. Link's mouth fell agape at the sight of it, as he could not yet see what had stopped the beast. That was until the Imprisoned was inched backward, and Link saw what appeared to be thick, jagged tree roots from deep in the ground wrapped around each of its hind legs. He thought for a moment, trying to recall when he had seen tree roots move in such a way before.
"Bucha!" he gasped aloud.
Bucha had gifted him with the slingshot by the power of his mythical song and dance, which moved the trees and their roots as if they had come to life. As he recalled this, he thought he could begin to hear the giant Kikwi's deep, booming voice in song again. Looking upward, he saw the Kikwi leader, in the flesh, near the top of the Sealed Grounds. He moved his large body and his stumpy arms in a slow, rhythmic dance, and the trees responded in kind. They swayed to and fro as more roots burst through the wall of earth surrounding the bottom of the Grounds. They slowly wrapped around the beast's legs, forcing it back to the ground as it tried to thrash itself free.
Link looked back up at Bucha, a warm and glad smile crossing his lips. Beside Bucha appeared the other Kikwis; Lospa, Oolo, Erla, and lastly, Machi, who leapt up and down upon seeing Link. The sense of dread was steadily waning, while hope and gratitude took its place. Link turned his attention back to trying to free his leg while he had the chance.
Back above, the catapult was nearly fully loaded with a heap of bomb flowers, dug up from the underground. Everyone had paused to marvel at the sight of Bucha holding the Imprisoned at bay so wondrously.
"Looks like the wood-dwellers came to pitch in, too," Cobal said gladly.
"And they're not alone," Fledge added, pointing to the sky.
Above them flew a dozen Ancient Robots, each with a propeller attached to its head. They fought valiantly against the harsh wind and landed near Groose and Fledge.
"How have you managed to come all this way?" Fledge questioned. "You know, without the timeshift stones?"
X came forward, offering a small bow to Groose and Fledge.
"We learned from our... zzrrrpt... past," he replied, pointing to his unpowered eye, which had been fixed with a small shard of deep blue stone. "Instead of the timeshift stones keeping us contained to our territory, we've decided to use them to move about the world freely. Our guardian dragon, who has returned to life, ordered us to find a way to help Link here, so we fixed ourselves some propellers.. bfffft... fitted ourselves with timeshift shards, and now here we are."
The Imprisoned unleashed an earth-shaking roar. Its strength continued to rally, and slowly it began to pull away from the vines and roots which held it. One-by-one, they began tearing and severing.
"I have a plan," Groose stated, gesturing for the Mogmas and the Robots to gather around him. "Fledge and I are going to run down there and get Link."
Fledge opened his mouth to protest. However, he stopped himself short, simply nodding his head in agreement and drawing in a breath to muster what courage he could.
"Cobal, wait until we're in the clear, then you give the beast a nice taste of those bomb flowers."
"Got it!"
"You flying Robot guys, is there anything you can do to contain the Imprisoned?"
"We may be able to combine our electric currents to seal off the area for a time," X replied.
"Great. As soon as the bombs go off, do exactly that. Once we get Link up here, then we'll regroup and figure out how to beat this thing for good."
Cobal hopped onto the Groosenator and waited eagerly for his signal. The Robots flew down to one of the lower levels of the Sealed Grounds and stood in a circle with their arms outstretched at their sides. The electric currents in their arms grew brighter and began whirring with energy as they readied themselves. Groose and Fledge raced down the spiraling path as fast as their legs could carry them. The Imprisoned looked far more threatening up close. Fledge almost turned back at the sight of it, yet he stayed by Groose's side, trying to keep his eyes fixed on Link, who was still trying to pull himself free. He saw Groose and Fledge as they approached.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Get out of here!"
"Not without you," Groose retorted.
Fledge hooked his arms underneath Link's and pulled, while Groose pushed aside the large rocks and clumps of earth and mud. After a few tugs, his leg came free. Fledge dragged him back some and tried helping him to his feet. However, his leg gave way, as it pained him to put any weight on it. He grabbed and sheathed the sword, then Fledge and Groose each put one of his arms over their shoulders. With Groose and Fledge supporting Link on either side, they started back up the spiraling path. Behind them, they could hear the final roots snapping in half as the Imprisoned tore through them.
"Fire!" Groose shouted as loudly as his throat could manage.
Cobal leapt in excitement.
"This'll teach you to never mess with Link and Zelda again, you big, ugly behemoth," he growled.
With that, he pulled the lever and sent dozens of bomb flowers soaring through the air. The first ones to hit did not seem to do much. However, as the onslaught continued, each blast became harder for the Imprisoned to withstand. The beast drew back and slowly became lost in the resulting smoke created by the blasts. The Ancient Robots encircling the grounds began whirring and sparking as they channeled their electric energy. A dome of electric current formed over the Imprisoned, trapping him and the thick smoke at the bottom of the Sealed Grounds. Once the electric shield was formed, X broke free and flew up to meet Link.
Link, Groose, and Fledge made it back to the temple. Link slowly regained his ability to support himself, as the residual ache in his leg faded. He let go of Groose and Fledge, and slowly limped over to where the others stood waiting.
"Machi," he uttered in amazement. "Cobal, X!"
"That's right," Cobal replied. "The gang's all here."
Machi ran forward and embraced Link.
"We couldn't let you fight alone," he squealed. "Besides, we missed you."
"You put your life on the line to help us," X said, "and we wanted to return the favor."
A knot quickly welled up in Link's throat, and his eyes stung with the threat of tears. Even Groose sniffled as he watched the happy reunion unfold.
"All of you risked yourselves to come here and fight?" Link questioned quietly, still taking everything in.
"By your side, friend," Cobal said.
Link's head hung low as he quietly composed himself. Then, with his brow furrowed, he drew the Master Sword and turned to look out over the Imprisoned. With a loud, monstrous roar, the beast threw itself upward, breaking through the electric current. Having spent so much of their energy, the Ancient Robots fell back, all exasperated from their efforts.
Drawing in a deep, wheezing breath, the Imprisoned lowered its head. Slowly, its body was outlined by thick malice, which danced around like a black flame. The Sealed Grounds grew darker and the wind grew harsher as the beast's otherworldly power mounted. To everyone's shock and dismay, the beast lifted from the ground, raised by the malice surrounding it. It rose higher and higher, soon to reach the temple. The wind whipped through Link's honey blonde hair as he looked on, devising a plan as calmly as he could.
"Can we hit it with another bomb flower?" he asked.
"The big one is cut off," Groose replied.
"We gave him all we got too," Cobal added sadly. "Literally. There aren't any more bomb flowers nearby."
"Isn't there anything else we can launch at it?" Fledge asked, gesturing wildly to the rising Imprisoned. "A big rock, or..."
"... or me."
Link's eyes widened as the idea struck him. Groose and Fledge each gave him a befuddled look.
"Launch me!" Link said. "I can take him down if I can just get atop him."
"Link," Fledge argued, "that's awfully dangerous."
"You're not wrong, but it might be the only way."
Fi emerged from the sword and offered her agreement.
"In the current circumstances," she said, "Master Link's plan has the greatest chance of success."
Link turned, shooting a very serious look at Groose, who nodded in kind. They both stepped up onto the Groosenator, with Link fixing himself into the chamber. Groose maneuvered the machine until he felt he had the clearest shot.
"You ready?" he asked, shouting over the furious winds.
Drawing in a deep breath, Link looked back at Groose and nodded.
"For Zelda's shake," Groose said, "don't you dare mess this up."
He pulled the lever, and Link was catapulted with dizzying speed. At first, everything in sight blended together in disorienting madness. However, the demon's rising frame came into view as time itself seemed to slow down. All watched in grueling anticipation as Link flew through the air. Fledge huddled together with Machi, Cobal, and X. Fi and the elder woman watched in silence and awe. Groose gritted his teeth and held a clenched fist close to his chest.
"Come on, Link," he uttered.
Link stretched out an arm and managed to catch the beast by the pillar. The onlookers cheered wildly as Link pulled himself up onto the beast's head. He raised the Master Sword to the sky, and the blade was immediately enveloped in bright cyan light. With a scream, Link drove the blade into the pillar, which erupted in a blinding, white radiance. Loud, shrieking roars of defeat echoed through the woods. The abyss opened up at the base of the Sealed Grounds, and the Imprisoned began to descend. The area was filled with blinding flashes of light, deafening thunder, and wind so harsh that it nearly blew everyone over. With all its might, The Imprisoned fought to stay out of the grips of its otherworldly holding cell, thrashing about and throwing its head around wildly. Link was tossed from the beast and sent plummeting. At Bucha's command, he was jarringly caught by a large root which then pulled him to safety. The scaly demon was finally sucked down, and with one final flash of glorious light, the Sealed Grounds returned to its former state of rest.
The damage caused by the Imprisoned vanished. All of the downed trees and tossed rubble were cleared in an instant. The ground was restored as if nothing had happened, and the mid-morning sun broke through the rapidly dissipating storm clouds. The Mogmas embraced the Robots, who then turned and leapt for joy with the bouncing Kikwis. Groose gave Fledge a playful (and gentle) punch on the shoulder as his way of commending his show of bravery. Amidst the celebrating, Link found his way to the elder woman, who bowed her head solemnly.
"Well done, Hero," she said with a warm smile.
Link bowed his head in kind.
"Thank you, Impa," he said, allowing himself to smile as well.
Her wrinkled grin stretched wider, as she had not heard her name spoken to her in nearly one thousand years.
