Chapter 20: The Calamity Guardian
"I won't stop; not now, not ever. I am the thing that keeps you up at night. The evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind. I will never rest...and neither will you." -Slade (Teen Titans)
Ganondorf begins the assault by shooting his laser at the group, which they avoid. Arming her wave beam, Samus shoots several surges at his laser in an effort to short it out, but Ganondorf retaliates by lunging forward and swiping at her and Samus backflips over his arm to evade it. At that moment, Link surfs on his shield and slashes at his hooves to stagger him and Zelda follows up with flame powered slash to Ganondorf's face. Their progress, however, is set back as the phazon regenerates all the damage done to him and he begins firing rapidly at all directions, forcing everyone to find cover. Link jumps out of cover after he stops his barrage and shoots phazite arrows at Ganondorf's chest, causing him to howl in pain. Samus jumps out of cover (after telling Zelda to stay hidden) and shoots five seeker missiles at Ganondorf's face, making him fall to his knees. Seeing his chance, Link slashes across his face three times and before he can perform a thrust, Ganondorf recomposes himself, blocks the thrust with one of his horns before grabbing Samus and swatting Link away towards some rubble. Turning his arm into a laser, Ganondorf blasts Samus away and walks over to Link, the latter of which tries to get back up; the injuries from his previous fights still fresh and they pile up with these new ones. Ganondorf quickly stomps on Link's back, flooring him and leaving him open to thrust from Ganondorf's blade arm. Seeing this, Zelda runs out from cover and stabs Ganondorf in the chest while he's distracted. Ganondorf howls as the rapier is dug into his chest (the chozodium reacting violently with the phazon) and he falls backwards, crushing several ruins. Given a few seconds, Zelda goes over to attend the injured and exhausted Link, but her assistance is cut short as Ganondorf rises and throws the rapier away.
"HYLIA!" Ganondorf, in a shocking turn, yells out in a guttural voice, grabbing Zelda's attention. Seeing this as a chance to get him away from Link, Zelda runs towards several more ruins and, just as she hoped, Ganondorf chases her down. Getting behind a wall, Zelda catches her breath and Ganondorf looks around to locate his prey. Not long after, Zelda hears a peculiar humming sound coming from Ganondorf; his veins glow blue and when they reach their peak, he opens his mouth and fires a large phazon stream with malice circling it at the last place he saw her. Forcing her out of cover, Zelda is immediately spotted and she runs into several pillars to keep Ganondorf from reaching her. While he's distracted, Link (having recovered) jumps up and rams the master sword into Ganondorf's head. Howling in pain, Ganondorf thrashes around and, after Link moves Zelda away, Samus runs up his back, somersaulting up and blasting him in the face with a plasma beam burst which finally forces him to the ground. Cautiously, the three move in to check on the fallen beast; a few seconds later, his eyes shoot open.
"Get back!" Samus pushes the others back as Ganondorf roars as he gets back up and to everyone's shock, he removes the master sword without the same effect that it had on Dark Samus. Tossing it aside, Ganondorf begins convulsing as the phazon spreads throughout his body even further; increasing his muscle mass and slowly restoring his body from its mummified state.
"I think he's getting stronger!" Zelda shouts in alarm. "What should we do?"
"I think phazon weaponry will have a better effect!" Link answers.
"How many arrows do you have? "Samus asks, scanning the increase in phazon coming from Ganondorf.
"Just four; I used up the rest back in the caves."
"Well, that's unfortunate…" Samus answers with regret and Ganondorf rushes them. Being pushed aside, Link lands a few feet away and as he gets back up, he witnesses Samus protecting Zelda from Ganondorf, pushing her away as she fires off several power beam shots. Fed up, Ganondorf grabs and brings Samus up to his face, makes that familiar humming sound, and blasts her away with his phazon-malice stream towards several ruins that collapse on her. After a few seconds of stunned staring, realizing that Samus isn't making an effort to rise up, Link seethes in anger, grabs the sword and charges at Ganondorf (ignoring Zelda's protests to not do so). In response, Ganondorf swipes at Link and he does his best to dodge them (taking into account that he's still struggling with his response time, once again brought on by his injuries and fatigue) and manages to slam his AKEB charged sword on his face. With Ganondorf disoriented, Link hooks his left arm around the monsters neck and furiously stabs his head, spilling malice and phazon as if it were blood. Eventually, Ganondorf recomposes himself and thrashes around to shake Link off. Zelda, for her part, takes her time to shoot the last phazon arrows at Ganondorf's chest. Finally, Ganondorf manages to throw Link to the ground and he charges up his blast again to hit Zelda. In response, Link runs the master sword into Ganondorf's artificial arm and, finally fed up with Link's defiance, he grabs Link and punches him against a wall repeatedly.
"Let him go!" Zelda frantically shouts amidst Ganondorf's barrage as she runs at him with her recovered rapier and he responds by kicking her away, hitting her head on a rock which renders her unconscious. Undeterred, Ganondorf continues punching Link, cracking the wall behind him.
"You are nothing!" Ganondorf shouts to a quickly fading Link, who doesn't even have the strength to respond. Ganondorf's hits begin to slow down as Link can feel the full impact of his injuries. "I will end her wretched bloodline!" Another hit connects and Link can feel his bones breaking. "I will subjugate all of Hyrule!" Another hit connects and Link's sight begins to blur from the injuries. "And you will die a failure, once again…" Link turns his head to the side and weakly reaches out to the still unconscious Zelda, before another hit finally takes him down. Moments later, Zelda regains partial consciousness to see Ganondorf roaring up towards the sky, which calls several mutated monsters from below the ground. Zelda tries to get up and Ganondorf spots her. Seeing that he's now unhindered, Ganondorf creeps over to Zelda, changing his arm into a blade dripping with malice once again.
From the collapsed ruins, Samus lies unconscious with a large amount of phazon and malice covering her.
"Reinitializing...warning; intense radiation detected as well as an unknown bio mass with high levels of toxicity." Virginia reports, detailing a schematic of the varia suit covered with phazon and malice. "Sampling...analysis complete; adaptation protocol activated." The suit begins glowing, taking in particles of both the phazon and malice, changing its appearance.
As Ganondorf approaches, with the monsters standing behind him, Zelda wearily gets up but falls back on her knees as she is still dazed from hitting her head. Looking up, she sees Ganondorf standing in front of her and prepares to impale her. "10,000 years...I have been kept in that endless darkness. Every second waiting...for the day I could finally be rid of you."
"10,000 years?" Zelda asks. "Then, you're the one that started this!"
"I was so close; I had you all in the palm of my hand. Then, the gods sealed me away before I could complete my plans! Now, I'll finish what I began all those years ago and everything will be mine to rule!" Ganondorf declares as he seizes Zelda and prepares to impale her. Zelda fruitlessly tries to get loose, until she sees that Ganondorf is looking to the side; a large torrent of sand is quickly approaching them. "What is that?"
From behind, several of the mutant monsters are quickly slain by robed assailants, which does not go unnoticed by Ganondorf. Shrugging off the mysterious assailant's appearance, Ganondorf moves to finish off Zelda and another person jumps up from the sand torrent.
"...Urbosa?" Zelda looks to the person and swears that she could see her dear friend, leading her in shock. Dropping down, this stranger leaves an electrically charged slash across Ganondorf's face, causing that monster to writhe in pain and allowing her to take Zelda away, using the sand current. "Wait; you're…"
"Urbosa" looks down on Zelda and smiles, until her eyes refocus themselves and she sees that it is actually Riju. "Hello Zelda."
"Riju? How did you get here? Wait, how are we moving-" Zelda asks before looking down, seeing that they're both standing an Urbosa's shield, being pulled by an unknown creature that appears to have a striped mohawk with grey fur. "What is that?"
"That's Patricia, my sand seal." Riju ecstatically answers while tugging at the rope connecting her to Patricia. "And she's not the only one I brought." Riju whistles, bringing many Gerudo soldiers out of hiding and engaging the monsters. The robed assailants also reveal themselves as Gerudo as well. Ganondorf finally recovers and bears witness to these events and seeing that Zelda is being escorted away, decides to ignore both fighting sides and go after her.
"Wait Riju! We need to go help the others!"
"Tell that to him!" Riju answers while pointing at the pursuing Ganondorf. "What exactly is that thing?"
"Its name is Ganondorf. It was sealed under the desert-"
"The Ganondorf?!" Riju cuts in. "I thought he was a myth!"
Unfortunately, this brief distraction allows Ganondorf the chance to catch up and knock them off of their course. Getting up from the sand, Zelda sees Riju tending to her unconscious sand seal and rushes over to them. Ganondorf, upon seeing his prey as he gets up off the sand, zeroes in on them as the malice and phazon continues to spread within his body.
As the Gerudo keep the monsters from reaching Zelda and Riju, Teake leads a small band to retrieve Link and Samus from the rubble. "There he is! Get him to the healers immediately!" Teake orders upon seeing the grievously injured Link and two Gerudo carry him off. Moving on while fighting off more of the mutants, Teake and her guards reach the next area where Samus lay buried under the rubble. Helping two others remove the stones, Teake finds that Samus is missing; only a patch of phazon and malice remains, along with a hole beneath it.
Ganondorf approaches the girls with murderous intent in his eyes, but he pauses briefly and looks to the side.
"What's he doing?" Zelda asks with her rapier in one hand and the other aflame.
"He must have sensed something." Riju answers as Patricia "swims" up beside her. "Should we make the first move? Before he does?"
"No wait; something is coming…"
Ganondorf continues to look around, completely ignoring his prey, until he walks a few feet to the left and stares down at the sand. Kneeling down, he pounds the sand with both hands and roars briefly, as if beckoning something. On cue, a black sphere erupts from the sand, hitting Ganondorf square on the chin and landing him on his back. The sphere falls back down in front of Zelda and Riju before unfurling and revealing itself as Samus in a new suit; black legs, outer thighs, left arm with clawed finger tips, oversized shoulders with horn like protrusions, magenta pulsating upper torso, abdomen, inner thighs, helmet and a red visor.
"Samus!" Zelda excitedly beams.
"Did you miss me?" Samus quips before looking back at the dazed Ganondorf. "Thanks for the suit!" Samus wastes no time in firing a large stream of phazon at Ganondorf, injuring him significantly. After which, Samus instructs Zelda and Riju to hit him while he's injured to cause lasting damage. Complying, Zelda launches fireballs from her hands and Riju brings down lightning bolts on the now floored Ganondorf. Ceasing their barrage, Samus maintains her aim on Ganondorf and after about 10 seconds, his eyes shoot open (as well as quick pupil constriction) and he roars as the phazon and malice aggressively courses through his body. The roar had the added effect of calling out even more mutated monsters from beneath the sand, attacking the overwhelmed Gerudo and causing the sky to turn a lighter shade of red.
"What's happening?!" Riju asks in alarm.
"I don't- what?" Before Zelda can answer, her sealing power begins to radiate from within her; responding to Ganondorf's sudden increase in malice. Finally reaching its peak, the malice and phazon erupts from within Ganondorf and covers his entire body. Phazon tendrils reach out and grab several of the deactivated guardians that litter the Arbiter's Grounds, dismantling them and placing parts on several point (knees, arms, thorax, elongated shoulder guards and skull like face plate with a glowing Gerudo gem on the forehead), his long red hair now resembles a mane and the phazon now radiates from his body (along with malice) as well as three long tentacles from his back with a reptilian like tail and blades emerging from his forearms.
"Now there's a face only a mother could love." Samus remarks before firing another stream of phazon, to which Ganondorf answers with one of his own. Samus does her best to keep it at bay until an alert from her suit catches her attention; "Phazon reservoirs nearly depleted". As this is reported, Samus's phazon stream is quickly losing potency and is eventually overpowered by Ganondorf's stream. "Both of you; get back!" Samus shouts before being blasted away and Riju (saddling on a recovered Patricia) grabs Zelda before dodging the previously stated blast. Unwilling to leave their ally behind, the two circle back and Zelda slashes at Ganondorf's left leg, crippling him and allowing Samus the chance to get back on her feet and land a super missile on his face, momentarily stunning him. This respite soon ends as Ganondorf recovers and chases Zelda down, leaving Samus behind.
"Persistent, isn't he?" Riju asks. "Why is he after you?"
"It's complicated, I'm afraid." Zelda reluctantly answers.
"Fair enough. I'll make sure he doesn't get to you; Link probably wouldn't forgive me if I let anything happen to you."
"Wait; where is Link?!"
"I instructed my guards to look for him and Samus. I'm sure they found him."
Back at the battlefield, the Gerudo soldiers continue to fend off the mutant monsters. In another area, the critically wounded Link is being tended to by healers.
"How is he?" Teake asks, having briefly returned from the fight to check on Link.
"Captain, we've only just stabilized him. But I'm afraid he's unfit for battle now." One of the healers responds, caressing Link's arm. "He has broken bones."
"I see." Teake remorsefully comments. "Well, keep him safe; once this fight is over, we must get him back to Town to get him proper help."
The healers nod in acknowledgement and Teake runs off to rejoin the fight. Unbeknownst to any of them, Link had been overhearing everything but unable to move due to the severity of his injuries. Having already used Mipha's Grace in the tunnels already, it would be a while before it can be used again. Frustrated by his helplessness, Link tries to move, but the pain of his injuries are unbearable and he stops after the third try. Internally shouting in anger, Link seethes at his lack of strength needed to fight Ganondorf, which consequently put Zelda in danger. Praying to Hylia, he desperately asks for strength to fight back. After 3 minutes of prayer, Link feels something stirring within him; looking to his right, Link finds that he's able to flex his hand, which he could not do a moment ago. As the healers tend to the other injured Gerudo, they hear the sounds of mutated monsters getting closer to their position, getting their scimitars ready if they need to fight them off. Link looks at the entrance and his eyes shimmer in a familiar glow…
Having her speed booster charged, Samus rams into Ganondorf, kicks off of his face and blasts a hyper missile into his chest. Riju doubles back and launches Zelda towards Ganondorf (as per her request) and stabs her rapier into his exposed chest; as hoped, infusing her power into her rapier made of chozodium has the effect of disrupting the phazon and damaging the malice, causing Ganondorf immense pain. Calling out to Samus, Zelda jumps off and the latter catches her just in time for Riju to land a lightning bolt on Ganondorf's chest via her scimitar, harming him even further. Ganondorf covers his wound with guardian parts and transforms his left arm into an oversized cannon with which he fires off several laser blasts, scattering everyone and allowing the chance to attack Samus with an axe like weapon from his right arm. Swinging it wildly, Ganondorf shouts as he misses each hit while Samus effortlessly dodges his attacks.
"You will not stop me!' Ganondorf shouts in an echoing voice. "The princess will die by my hand!" Getting hit by another hyper missile to his face, Ganondorf reels slightly as Samus lands.
"Why do you want her so badly?! She didn't do anything to you! You were buried underneath the sand, remember?" Samus shouts, until she remembers what Silas told her. "Wait, it's because of who she is after all, isn't it?"
"When I kill her, all of Hyrule will be mine! As well as everything else!"
"What?" Samus, now dumbfounded, wonders aloud. "What are you talking about?"
"Enough talk; die!" Ganondorf charges his phazon-malice stream and fires it from his mouth. Samus barely dodges it and slightly rakes her left hand on the stream to capture trace amounts of phazon to give her more attacks (hyper missile: 1-3). Aiming a missile, Samus looks at Ganondorf's direction and sees that he's not there anymore. To her surprise, Ganondorf jumps down, slams his fist into the ground which Samus dodges, but is unable to avoid a swing from his mane now aflame with malice, sending her back and into the direction of Riju, knocking them both down.
"No!" Zelda shouts in alarm before running to her down comrades. Intercepting her, Ganondorf swings at Zelda, but she uses her new power to teleport around him and slash at several points in an effort to make him stagger.
"I grow tired of you, Hylia." Ganondorf, while kneeling, says in quiet anger.
"I am not Hylia!" Zelda shouts from a distance. "I'm Zelda; princess of Hyrule. Nothing more."
"You cannot fool me." Ganondorf answers as he slowly gets back up. "You, and those before you; my hatred for all of you burns eternally. But after today, the only one who will be worshipped-" Zelda cuts him off as she teleports around him, dodging his tentacles and leaving wounds all over his body. Finally, Ganondorf sniffs the air and reaches out, catching Zelda at last. "IS ME!"
Samus gets up off of the sand and fires off a hyper missile, which Ganondorf catches with one of his tentacles and redirects it towards her. Seeing no other way, she fires a second hyper missile to destroy the first and she's caught off guard as a tentacle emerges from the dust and seizes her by the arm cannon and another by her left leg.
"Don't interfere!" Ganondorf shouts before turning his attention to the struggling Zelda in his hand. "I've waited 10,000 years for this moment. At last, Zelda; you are mine!" Ganondorf opens his mouth wide, extending his fangs which drip with malice, and brings Zelda in.
"No!" Samus shouts in desperation, hitting the tentacle with her left fist in a vain attempt to free herself.
Zelda struggles helplessly in Ganondorf's hand, having exhausted her magic by teleporting too much, as he brings her closer to his gaping maw. "Stop, no!" Zelda shouts in a terrified voice as the fangs are now mere centimeters away from her head and she shuts her eyes. "LINK!" Just then, a blade covered in phazon erupts from Ganondorf's collar bone and he roars in pain.
Moments earlier
Back at the battlefield, the Gerudo forces are stretched thin as the number of monsters slowly dwindles. Consequently, several monsters break through where the injured are being tended to. The healers now have to contend with protecting the others as the monsters begin to break down the door. One of the healers looks back to make sure the others are far enough away and is shocked to see that Link is no longer laying down on his cot, but is now standing up with his fully powered suit and glowing blue eyes. "Move!" Link commands before rushing the monsters and slaying them with remarkable efficiency, much to everyone's shock as he shouldn't even be able to walk let alone stand. Now outside, Link whistles which catches several monsters attention and they rush him; Link responds by slashing at the beasts with the master sword with a blue glow, killing them instantly with powerful slashes and saving the Gerudo in danger. Finally reaching the edge of the battle, Link kills several monsters with chained slashes each. The Gerudo that was being overwhelmed turns out to be Teake, who is shocked to see Link with his wounds miraculously healed. Helping her up, he is about to ask her about how the number of monsters increased so suddenly until his attention is turned towards Ganondorf.
"LINK!" Zelda desperately shouts as she is brought close into Ganondorf's mouth. Putting it aside for now, Link throws the master sword at Ganondorf, but not before instructing Teake to go help the others. As she runs off, Link glares at Ganondorf as he reacts in pain to being impaled.
Taking advantage of the tentacles going slack, Samus uses her last hyper missile to shoot Ganondorf in the chest, making him release Zelda who she catches. A gust of wind blows at Ganondorf from behind, which Link uses to propel himself onto his back and remove the master sword. Afterwards, Link maneuvers around and grips onto Ganondorf's mane with his left hand and plunges the master sword into his chest, spilling phazon and malice. "You think you can hurt my princess?!" Links anger finally boils over and, incredibly, blue transparent tendrils writhe from his suit and a phazon stream emerges from the blade, injuring Ganondorf further.
"Samus, I can confirm with 100% probability that Link has entered hypermode." Virginia reports upon scanning Link's suit.
"How can this be?" Zelda asks in concern.
"Virginia, set that aside for later investigation. For now, we have an edge against Ganondorf." Samus answers. "I need to gather more phazon myself, I'm out."
Ganondorf recomposes himself and tries to swipe at Link, but he somersaults above his arm and slashes across his face. Finally brought to his knees, Ganondorf can only look on in anger as he tries to close the exposed wound on his chest. Just then, several lightning bolts strike Ganondorf, paralyzing him even further. Looking back, they see Riju pointing her crackling scimitar up into the sky.
"This is not easy, everyone!" Riju shouts, struggling to keep the barrage of lightning from stopping. "If you have any ideas, do it now!"
"I've got one!" Link holds the master sword with both hands, accumulating large quantities of phazon on the blade which he directs towards Samus, restoring her phazon reserves. "Blast this bastard!"
"My pleasure!" Samus answers before firing a large stream of phazon at Ganondorf's exposed chest, causing immense damage. Zelda takes this opportunity to bombard Ganondorf with her sealing power to banish the malice from within, weakening him even further.
"It can't end this way!" Ganondorf shouts in weakened desperation as his essence begins to crumble. "I can't lose; not to you!" Ganondorf falls to his hands as the attacks end and he breathes raggedly. Link slowly walks towards him, holding the master sword with both hands, charging even more phazon within the blade. "You think you've won?" Link retracts his helmet so that he can see Ganondorf eye to eye. "I'm the only one who knows everything; you think you're not expendable?!" Link stands mere inches away from Ganondorf's face, holding the master sword in his right hand. "Don't you want to know about the forgotten past?"
Link stares intently at Ganondorf for a few seconds with everyone behind him waiting expectantly. Finally, Link gives his answer. "Some things are better left forgotten." That being said, Link horizontally slashes Ganondorf's face once, twice, a third and fourth time and he ends it with a thrust through his head. "Disappear." Link sends a large stream of phazon through the sword, overloading the screaming Ganondorf's own phazon, causing his body to crack. With one final agonizing roar, Ganondorf explodes, leaving behind a pile of ash. From the battlefield, the mutated monsters collapse as the malice leaves their bodies, leaving behind bones with trace amounts of phazon, much to the Gerudo soldier's confusion. Breathing heavily, Link falls to his knees as hypermode deactivates. Zelda runs over and kneels down to tend to Link.
"Link! Are you alright?"
Link turns to her and smiles with exhaustion. "It's ok, Zelda. He's gone." Link leans on her shoulder as she embraces him, breathing a sigh of relief. "It's ok…"
"Link, do you need to rest?" Samus asks.
"No." Link answers as Zelda helps him up. "We've still got a job to finish." Link points at the still corrupted Vah Naboris.
Hesitant, they all nod in agreement before heading off to purify the Divine Beast. Unbeknownst to anyone, a small fragment of malice emerges from the ashes and flies off.
Inside Vah Naboris
After Zelda transfers her power to Samus, the latter begins the vaccine administration. As this happens Link takes this time to talk to Riju.
"Riju, thanks for covering for me."
"You don't have to thank me." Riju answers. "You still owe me that race after all." Riju then leans her head on his shoulder. "But, I'm glad you're ok."
"You saved Zelda, thank you so much." Link comments with a warm smile. "And, I promise that I'll give you the best race ever."
"Oh, I bet you will."
Finally, all of the phazon is purged from Vah Naboris and the barrier over the desert is lowered, exposing it to the starry night sky. The Gerudo bear witness to this and shout in triumph; Teake in particular smiling contentedly.
"Vaccination complete. Divine Beast Vah Naboris is now freed from further corruption." Virginia reports and they all breathe a sigh of relief. A clack of heels catches their attention and they all turn around to see a certain Gerudo slowly walking towards them. Zelda, for her part, widens her eyes and drops her rapier.
"Once again, you like to keep a girl waiting, don't you?" Urbosa, previous Gerudo champion, says in her usual calm demeanor. "But, it was worth the wait."
Before anyone says anything, Zelda runs over with her eyes glossed over. "Urbosa!" Overwhelmed with emotion, Zelda jumps onto Urbosa's arms and cries tears of joy.
"Little bird, there is no greater joy for me than seeing you again." Urbosa warmly comments, embracing Zelda and stroking her hair. "I'm so proud of you; and I know that she is as well."
"It's been difficult, Urbosa; all of it has been." Zelda responds, wiping away her tears.
"And yet here you stand. I knew you would never let me down." Urbosa and Zelda break away and they both turn to the others. "It's good to see you again, Link."
"I'm happy to see you as well, Urbosa." Link responds with a smile. "I'm sorry for taking a while to get here."
"Fashionably late is your forte, it seems." Urbosa quips before looking at Samus. "Ah, you're the armored vai I've heard about. Thank you for protecting the princess."
Samus deactivates her suit, approaches Urbosa and shakes her hand. "Zelda has told me a lot about you. I'm happy to finally meet the legend herself."
Nodding, Urbosa finally turns her attention to Riju. "You must be the current chief of the Gerudo."
"Yes. I am Makeela Riju. I must say that I'm very excited to meet you, Lady Urbosa." Riju approaches Urbosa and looks her in the eye. "You are often regarded as the greatest chief who ever lived. I hope to live up to your expectations."
"From what I've seen, you've shown you have what it takes to be a great chief." Urbosa places her hands on Riju's shoulders and smiles. "For one so young, you've taken on the burden of Gerudo chief. You've stood before a great evil that wanted to end our world and you said no. You saved the princess, my little bird, from that evil. I'm proud and honored to call you chief and you have my blessing to go further than that."
"Further? You mean…" Riju starts to speak, until she realizes what Urbosa is indicating. Breathing fairly quickly, she looks at Link, who has a reassuring look, which indicates "you've got this". She then turns to Zelda, who nods in acceptance. Finally, she looks at Samus, who smiles and gives her a thumbs up. Thinking it through, her uncertainty turns into confidence and she nods to Urbosa. "Yes, I will!"
"Then let's make it official." Urbosa happily comments and turns to Zelda for the confirmation.
Zelda walks up and has Link and Samus stand at her side. "Brave Urbosa, I hereby anoint Makeela Riju, chief of the Gerudo, as the new champion of Divine Beast Vah Naboris."
"And so it shall be, Princess Zelda." Urbosa proudly proclaims as a blue cape (with the symbol of Vah Naboris) that appears, covering Riju's upper back. With her newfound wisdom, Riju pilots the Divine Beast all the way to its original resting spot; the eastern Gerudo ruins, surrounded by the statues of The Seven Heroines. Once there, everyone bids Urbosa goodbye (Zelda in particular gives her another hug and promises to come see her again when this is all over). Before everyone exits the Divine Beast, Urbosa stops Link to talk to him once more.
"Link, I know that you've been given permission by Riju to walk among us."
"Ah, yeah." Link nervously answers. "If you want me to renounce that, I'll understand."
"Don't misinterpret me; I'm honestly ashamed that I didn't give you that honor in the first place." Urbosa retorts.
"What?"
"I'm sure you're aware that every 100 years, a voe is born among us Gerudo. But, that changed 10,000 years ago and a voe hasn't been born among us ever since. It would've made me proud to have you walk among us, even though you didn't carry our blood."
"Urbosa, fighting alongside you was more than enough of a privilege for me. I couldn't ask for anything else."
"Be that as it may, you are one of us." Urbosa places her forehead on Link's and closes her eyes. "Now and always."
Link places a hand on her shoulder and returns the gesture. Afterwards, he bids his old friend goodbye and joins the others as they exit, just in time to see the many Gerudo soldiers applauding them. They all can't help but smile at the cheers; Teake in particular looks at Link and smiles in acceptance, which Link returns.
From one of the cliffs overlooking the ruins, a Yiga footsoldier observes the group and the Gerudo and plans to use a red phazon core to attack his battle weary enemies. Just then, an arrow emerges from his chest and he exhales his last breath before falling to the ground. The assailant is revealed to be another Yiga footsoldier who, after doing away with the previous one, looks down as well. "Master, they have purified the Divine Beast." He says this as a tall and robed man appears next to him.
"I knew that they would." The robed man responds in a deep voice. "Now, only one remains. Monitor them closely; the time will come for us to meet."
"Yes, Master." The footsoldier answers before the robed man disappears in a flash of red light, followed by the latter.
As thanks for saving their home, the Gerudo have prepared a feast for Link, Zelda and Samus, the latter of which was taken away for "a surprise". The feast was also to commemorate Riju's ascension as the new champion. As soon as the gates were closed, the festivities went on in full swing; meat roasting on an open fire, Gerudo hosting drinking competitions with their most famous beverages; the Noble Pursuit, children giving out flowers and fruits from the small orchard sitars and drums playing traditional music of the desert while a few Gerudo dance a provocative number used to enchant potential suitors. Link and Zelda are pulled in different directions to join in activities, much to their laughter. As the festivities continue, the owner of the Fashion Passion shop Saula and the owner of the Gerudo Secret Club Greta arrive to show their new collaborative product called "the Hero's Choice". As they announce it, Samus walks out wearing an off white sirwal with brown shoes, a blue top that exposes her midriff along with unconnected sleeves of the same color and a transparent blue veil with a gold tiara with a red gem and with her hair down. While everyone applauds the new design, Link turns pale at the sight of it, dropping his drink on the ground. The two explain that the design was inspired by Link's champion tunic and that they had plans to release it earlier, but found a much better time do so, namely tonight. While Zelda and Riju find delight in this new design, Link slinked away towards the sand seal stables to cool off from his embarrassment. This does not go unnoticed by Zelda, who walks off to go see him.
"Link? Is everything alright?"
"Hmm? Oh, Zelda." Link breathes deeply before continuing. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just needed to relax for a while before we start up the feast again."
"Oh, I thought you didn't like the new designs and just walked away from it."
"No! I mean it's a nice gesture to name clothing after me. I just didn't think they'd use that set of clothes…" Link answers, trying to hide his blush.
"What do you mean?" Zelda asks, clearly confused.
"I… Never mind."
Accepting the answer, Zelda starts to walk away to let Link have his time alone, but stops as she remembers what Samus told her back at the Divine Beast; "He has to know". Mustering up all the courage she has, she walks back to Link and taps his shoulder.
"Zelda? What is it?"
"Listen Link, there's something I've got to tell you; I didn't mean to keep it from you, but I thought it would've been better to just leave it on a need to know basis. But, now I realize that I should've told you in the first place." Zelda begins to buckle as she tries to tell Link her secret. "What you need to know is-"
"Stop." Link holds his hand up to not let Zelda continue. "It's alright. If you didn't tell me whatever it was you wanted to say, then you must have a good reason for hiding it." Link grabs her hands before continuing. "I trust you; when you're finally ready to tell me everything, I'll be more than willing to listen."
Zelda is about to say something, but simply smiles and nods, thankful for Link's understanding. As they both move to rejoin the feast, they witness the majority of Gerudo looking at them, touched by the scene they just witnessed. Not paying any mind to how silly they might look, Link breaks the silence by telling everyone that the party is barely getting started and everyone rallies to get it back in full swing.
For the first time since the phazon became an issue, Link has experienced actual happiness; Zelda has been welcomed with open arms by the Gerudo, Samus has felt comfortable enough to let her guard down and participate in festivities with genuine glee and Link was able to witness to it all. For that one moment, everything was perfect...and then, that moment came to an end.
Reeling from the festivities, Link broke away from everyone to wash his face as a means to stay awake longer and upon looking at a mirror nearby, he saw to his horror that he had an unwelcome guest.
"Hello, Link…" Dark Samus quietly greets Link from behind and he quickly turns around, only to find no one there. Looking around and then back at the mirror, he finds that there's no one there anymore. Brushing it off as mere exhaustion from the hectic confrontation, he smiles as he exits the inn to join back in on the festivities. His smile disappears once again as Dark Samus appears next to him when he sits down at a table, which makes him fall off of his seat. This catches the attention of everyone as Teake offers her hand to help him back up. Link accepts, but reels in horror as Teake is replaced by Dark Samus. Now frightened, Link runs off towards the entrance of town, ignoring the calls of Zelda and the others. Samus volunteers to go and see what's bothering Link and chases after him.
"Link, what's going on?"
"I keep seeing her." Link answers, trying to calm his breathing.
"Who?'
Link looks up at Samus before answering. "Dark Samus."
Samus's eyes widen in shock. "Where is she?!"
"Everywhere; wherever I look, she's there staring at me. But no one else seems to notice her." Link answers as looks around, but finds nothing this time. "Samus, what's wrong with me?"
Saying nothing more, Samus takes Link to her ship nearby and has him enter it to check his biohazard numbers, having a good idea as to what could be happening to him.
The results are heartbreaking; phazon toxicity at 7% and rising.
"Link, you're corrupted…"
"What?" Link asks, unable to comprehend what Samus just told him. "But, I thought we fixed that."
"I thought your suit was simply able to harness the phazon somehow when we fought Ganondorf. I don't understand how this happened."
"What's going to happen to me now?"
Samus pauses before answering. "If it continues….then you're going to become one of them."
Link, feeling defeated, gets out of the ship and leans on it.
"I'm sorry Link; I'm so very sorry." Samus says in remorse, putting a hand on his back. "But, I promise; I'll find a way to fix this."
"Samus, I need you to promise me something else." Link quietly asks. "If it comes to that, I need you to promise me that you'll take care of Zelda."
"Link, don't think like that-"
"And if it comes to that, I need you to be the one to end the threat that I could become. You must not hold back, Samus!" Link shouts in despair. "I need your word….that you'll kill me."
Samus, aghast by Link's declaration, takes in everything that he just made her promise and after thinking it through, she gives her answer.
"Understood…"
Out in the grassy fields, the fragment of malice that escaped floats aimlessly until a hand catches it in the air. It is revealed to be Dark Samus, who looks at the fragment in her palm as the two lower triforce marks on her hand glow blue.
"You were right, Ganondorf… They haven't won yet…"
To be continued…
Author's note: And that ends part three of the story. I don't really have much to say at the moment but thank you to everyone who has stuck with me since the beginning. Y'all are what kept me going, even though the wait between chapters have been WAY too long, I apologize for that. Now then, it's time for me to get started on the next part before we reach the endgame, which I already have a rough draft for. Alright guys/girls, stay tuned for the next chapter and take care.
Clem: Oof, yeah; I forgot about that. But, not to worry, I think I found a way to fix that oversight. I've had at least 4 months to think. Heheh.
