Chapter Four: Ganondorf Redux

Tiger never turned around to face the man...or the spirit of the man.

The man that was adorned in the same armor he wore in his struggle against Link, the same he wore while he attacked the Trio of Time, the same he wore when he finally got banished to the void between dimensions. The man that sent so many innocent Hylians, Zoras, Gorons, and Kokiris to their graves. The man who sold his soul to the Nightmare...

The man known as Ganondorf Dragmire.

"Ah... your spirit has changed dramatically since our last encounter!" Ganondorf chuckled, neither man moving from his spot. "You seem to be calmer, more mature, more powerful... but what's this I sense? Could it be..." Tiger closed his eyes as both men reached for the hilt of their swords. Tiger then opened his eyes, his own meeting those of the King of Evil.

"PAIN!!!" the Gerudo male screamed as he knocked Tiger back, whom screeched to a halt just a millimeter from the spikes. Tiger drew his sword as Ganondorf drew his on the opposite side of the arena. Both men gazed deep into each others' eyes, neither one finding 'quit' or 'surrender' in the other. They soon found themselves charging towards each other, swords at the ready, soon meeting in the center of the battlefield with a boom of energy as their blades met. They soon went into an old-fashioned sword fight, each one hacking, slashing, parrying, thrusting, blocking, doing their damnedest to land a single blow on each other.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ganondorf finally scratched Tiger along his face, blood running down his face. Tiger stopped and dabbed some blood upon his right index and middle digits, gazing at it. "So it seems the Nightmare has allowed you to attack me, though you're nothing but a soul damned to the bowels of Hell..." He chuckled and jumped, slashing his sword in a crescent fashion. The Triforce on his hand glowed brilliantly as he did so, causing a blast of magic to blast Ganondorf back to the tips of the spears at the edge. When Tiger hit the ground, the wound had healed due to the Triforce, the blood dried from the movement of the air around him as he attacked. Ganondorf merely laughed in delight, despite being in some pain.

"So it seems you've learned a few moves since we've last fought, boy!" Ganondorf laughed as he cast his ghostly cape to the wayside. "It will be an honor finishing what I should've at your damn ball!"

"It's called a prom, numbnuts..." Tiger cracked as he rolled his eyes.

With that insult, he fired several shotgun blasts towards the warrior. Tiger began to dodge again, blocking most of the ricocheted orbs with his shield, hacking the rest away with his sword. Ganondorf continued this pattern until Tiger had enough. "That's it, I'm sick and tired of this guy's shit!" That's when he made a mad-bull charge as Ganondorf. The madman continued firing blasts at the boy, but Ganondorf couldn't keep up. Tiger then used his sword as a makeshift catapult, launching over a final shotgun blast as he shield-whipped Ganondorf right in the face, sending him (and about three of his ghastly teeth) flying about twently feet away. Tiger grabbed his sword, and stood at the ready.

"Get up, evil one, let me kick your ass one more time!" he mocked, knowing Ganondorf would get more cross and sloppy in his attacks.

"You'll pay for your insolence!" Ganondorf boolwed as he shot a purple blast at Tiger. Instinctively, he took the stance of a baseball batter. "And Ganondorf fires one right down the middle..." Tiger returned the favor in the form of swinging it like a baseball player would at a fastball going right down the pipe. "...Tiger swings..." An electrical crackle filled the room as the the two made contact. "It's going...going..." Tiger yelled as the blast returned to Ganondorf, whom writhed in pain as he was hit. "Home Run! OSU wins the World Series!" Tiger imitated crowd cheers as Ganondorf hit the ground, falling to one knee, blood flowing from his mouth. He wiped it away and reached once more for his sword. "Sorry bastard! I'm gonna..." Instead of finishing, he found a blade to his throat. He looked up at Tiger, who simply stood there emotionless.

"I will give you one opportunity to renounce your alliance to the Nightmare and return to the void, otherwise I'll personally sign your ticket to Hell." Tiger said, his eyes glowing as bright as the Triforce on his hand, and occured just as quickly as he changed from being juvinile to dead serious. "The choice is yours."

Ganondorf just laughed as he became enveloped in black shadow. Tiger stood back, for he was expecting Ganondorf to turn into Ganon, the vicious pig-beast as he saw two years earlier. However, Ganondorf did something more terrifying. He ended up turning into a jungle warrior around twenty feet high, with a sword rivaling the weight of Biggoron himself. Ganondorf had turned into Odowla, the Masked Jungle Warrior. "Prepare to meet thy doom, sophomoric boy!" He began to stab the sword into the ground, trying to shish-ka-bob Tiger, or at least squish him into pulp. Tiger dodged and dove, barely making it out of the way of the sword everytime, and each time being knocked away further and further as Ganondorf's strikes begame more powerful due to frustration.

"Dude, settle down, you'll make the floor collapse!" Tiger yelled at him, but Ganondorf payed no heed.

Then, all hell...wait, no...oh screw it! Anywho...

With one more violent strike, Ganondorf hit the center of the serpent's eye. Tiger instantly made a run for the walls, jumping onto a bent spike and grabbing onto a vine. He began to climb up the wall as the whole room shrieked in what seemed like pain. Tiger soon grabbed a hold of a chain which led to a chandelier far above the arena. He perched there as the floor below him started to crumble. Ganondorf writhed in agony as he shifted to his regular form, soon falling through the floor into what seemed like a pit of lava. Instead, it was literally a gateway to Hell. Tiger looked on in horror as Ganondorf screamed in horror, his form beginning to vaporize. "CURSE YOU TIGER! CURSE YOU LINK! CURSE THE DAMN TRIFORCE!!!" Those were his last words as he melted into the fire and brimstone of the lake of fire.

That's when everything disappeared but Tiger, the chandelier, and the pit below him. A booming voice was heard throughout oblivion. It was the Nightmare.

"So, you have defeated my powerful warrior, eh Tiger?" The Nightmare growled. "I guess his loss will be your downfall!

With that, Tiger could feel himself being drawn towards the pit. The Nightmare had formed a vacuum hell-bent on sucking Tiger down with Ganondorf. Tiger held on tight to his perch, so he wouldn't have to worry about slipping off and becoming a crispy critter. Suddenly, he felt a violent lurch. The rusted chain suspending the chandelier was cracking, soon snapping from the force of the vacuum. Tiger jumped up to grab the rest of the chain, but barely fell short. Tiger screamed as he began to fall towards the same fate Ganondorf did.

"Yes! YESSSS!!! FALL TOWARDS YOUR DOOM!" The Nightmare hissed, expecting the Triforce to be his. This is when destiny intervened once more in Tiger's favor, for from what seemed like out of nowhere, a white beam of light appeared from above, catching Tiger in it. "NO!!! HE'S MINE! HE'S TO DIE, DAMN YOU!!!" the Nightmare shrieked as Tiger disappeared from the Forest Temple. The temple ended up collapsing in on itself, the pit shutting itself up, turning the whole site into nothing but a pile of rubble in a sinkhole.

Tiger soon found himself in a strange room transcending time and space. He found seven pedestals, six around him, and one in the middle with a Triforce on it. Tiger felt a surge of power, and turned to the one glowing green. He then saw what looked like a small child appearing. The figure wore green clothes, green boots, had green hair...it was Saria. Tiger stepped back a bit as she made her way towards him. Saria finally coaxed Tiger to relax, and soon both found themselves in the middle of the Triforce.

"I wish to thank you for opening the flow of the Triforce's energy from the Forest Temple. Alas, it is destroyed, as will the others once you do the same." Saria said with a soft, calm voice.

Tiger closed his eyes, sighed, and hung his head. "I'm sorry, I destroyed the Meadow, the Temple..." A hand soon found his scarred cheek. He opened his eyes, seeing Saria standing close to him, gazing into his eyes.

"You look nothing like him, but you spirit is definitely that of Link's descendant. Your heart is soft, your will is strong. Marin is lucky to have a man like you..." she said, leaning in close to him.

"Woah, you're like ten, right?"

"Well..." Saria smirked "more like ten-hundred..."

A bright flash of light enveloped the whole place as Saria leaned up and softly brushed her lips against Tiger's, her hand softly stroking his cheek. Before Tiger could catch up with the shock, everything disappeared. He felt himself flying a million miles an hour, yet staying stationary at the same time. He as being transported back to the site of the former temple. The last words he heard from Saria was, "Courage...courage of heart, courage of soul...follow your heart, fight for what's right, that is what true courage is..."

Tiger shook his head as he snapped back to reality. He found himself at the beginning of the path to the temple. He looked around, thinking he'd daydreamed it all, but the lingering tingling on his lips made him realize he wasn't. As he turned to walk back to his car, seven highway patrol cars came speeding up. Three officers came rushing up to him. "Are you alright, sir? What happened to the castle?!" One of the officers asked him.

"It collapsed. I barely made it out alive, no one else was in at the time. No one else was even around, so there's no need." Tiger replied.

"What made it fall?"

"Lightning struck just nearby, and the boom might have rattled the place just enough to make it crash to the ground. Hell, the place must be centuries old..." he said as he walked towards his car, the officers never noticing the shield and sword under his trenchcoat. He unlocked his car, stepped inside, shut the door, and took off his coat, shield, and sword, putting them in the backseat. He started the car and made his way to I-35 north. Home beckoned. Food beckoned. The shower beckoned.

Marin beckoned...