Chapter 22: Recycle; a Re-Cycling of the Ages
Ruins of the Forgotten Ones Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Puzzling Truth" - Fire Emblem IX: Path of Radiance OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Ariel's Lament" - The Legacy of Kain: Defiance OST. Scene 1 (First & Second Halves).
"Stone Tower Temple (Inverted)" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Mantis' Hymn" - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Infiltrator VS. Parasite" - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"Main Menu" - Metal Gear Solid II: Sons of Liberty OST. Scene 3 (Second Half) & 4 (First Half).
"Boss Battle" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 5 (First Half).
"Rocky Field (Noon)" - Dragonball Fighter Z OST. Scene 5 (Second Half).
"Boss Clear" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 6.
In another bewildering discovery, the two heroes have learned even more disturbing things and facts of the ancient and decayed nation of Stone Tower, also known as 'Rockvale'. Once a prosperous land blessed with incredibly talented users of Quintessence and Aegir that turned against their very creators; the Sainted Three themselves. With those same talented Aegis-artists at their head they opted to defy their goddess' will.
A blasphemous act of folly that earned them not just the ire but the judgement of the divine women.
In utilising three 'Light Spirits' of their country of Hyrule, Faron, Eldin and Lanaryu, the Sainted Three managed to overturn the forgotten ones' diabolical powers and banished those within their ranks into the Twilight Realm. Although most of these people were, ironically, largely forgotten about, many still remain within not just the borders of Hyrule but Termina itself that find their heart wavering slowly toward their temptations of eldritch horror-like powers.
Having infiltrated Rockvale itself, Link and Tatl manage to glean a lot of information to add to the stories that his sensei Impa and former companion Zelda once relayed to him; numerous pre-historic-like drawings suggest that the forgotten ones also possess a knowledge of peering through time itself. A frightening concept in and of itself but not one without accuracy; in overcoming king Igos Du Ikana himself, the heroes receive a disquieting piece of history from him.
"They had technology far outstripping our own, intelligent beyond means and could even seem to predict the future."
These people were indeed a dangerous group.
It is only when Link examines the drawings within Rockvale Temple however that his surprise turns to shock... anxiety evolves into realisation and finally... realisation grows to horror.
Drawings and sketchings of not only the Skull Kid himself are etched, but of the Hero of Time himself.
Though the boy's face is a hearkening to his days as a young adult youth in Hyrule's ruined future, some signs are different; his cerulean eyes are a distant bright-white, red and blue face-paint adorned along with a powerfully silver shade on his curtained hair. Rather chillingly, the anxious Link considered the notion that this man may have been the Terminian echo of himself; a completely different reality.
It is Yoshiyuki Miyazaki, however, that reveals the true facts belying these drawings. The heroes, although anxious in their assumptions, are ultimately correct; the silver-haired man, wielding terrible godlike strength, is said to have links to the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai... just like himself and his dark side. The one Sheik called 'Dark Link'; Kage Narumono.
Yoshiyuki, the last Garo, puts it to the party that Link is walking a 'double helix'; a time-loop echoed by his previous self. Although he reveals very little else about the fact, he gives his rival the warning of a lifetime; the link to Kage Narumono itself.
"Whether you give in to its influence today, tomorrow or far into the future... it matters not..."
It would appear that, in great spite to his best efforts without Navi, he will eventually fall prey to Kage Narumono and the Shinzui's temptations.
It is with this piece of horrifying news that it is all he can do to keep his head low while he marches on through Stone Tower Temple in grim silence...
Scene 1
GROWL-SCREECH
As the Helmasaur screamed out its last, a reaction in kind with the powerful Light Arrow that Link had managed to retrieve, the narrow-eyed Hero of Time found himself walking down one of Rockvale Temple's many backward and bewildering corridors. It was a room leading outward from the battle arena he was previously in. Even as he marched on stoically however, his mind still could not leave the anxiety-filled words from his dying opponent mere moments ago.
"Whether you give in to its influence today, tomorrow or far into the future... it matters not..."
It sent his fairly mature mind spiralling into a horrifying whirlpool of anxiety; having decided to go search for Navi, with the sole intention of learning a way to control the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai, he couldn't help but grow dread when learning she would not be found in Termina.
Which means in the end, he began silently, his frown deepening and hardening.
"I'm going to become Kage. Not just in body but in spirit too."
"Link, what are you thinking about...?"
Tatl's interruption was right on time and yet still not something he counted on; he couldn't help but rise up both of his straw-haired eyebrows as he swung his cap-less head 'round to face her, his ponytail of blonde hair whipping through the air with his sharp movement.
"N-Nothin'...," he lied in an unconvincing chuckle. It was only when she stopped following him and opted to hover in one place behind him that he dropped the nervous smile he wore so well, before turning back to face her again in a saddened frown. "I... guess I'm easier to read than I thought," he spoke, his frown sliding into a lightly-amused chuckle. "Huh?"
"Is it about what that Garo said to you...?" The little guardian fairy put forward, her soprano hanging softly in the air as she levitated toward his position. "About... this 'Akuma' thing?"
He turned his gaze away from hers in silence and shame; speaking more than words ever could.
"Link, think about it this way..."
Her words, though hopeful, managed to at least bring his eyes slowly rising up from his pensiveness and silence.
"If you just refuse to give in to this... Shinzui... thing...," Tatl began again as she slowly hovered forward, an unsure tone within the soprano she used to speak with. "Then this all won't come to pass! Don't you see?"
"But he seemed very insistent Tatl...," he answered, turning his head from hers as he thought back to the man's words a second time. "Apparently I give in to the Shinzui... and to Kage's power indefinitely; it's not even a question of if...," he started, slowly turning his head up to face her. "But when." He finished, a hard-eyed hiss matched only by the fierceness in his tenor.
"Link it's not that ba-"
"Do I even have a choice anymore...?" He mused aloud, turning his limp-eyed attention down to his two slow-opening palms in front of him. "All I've done... all I can do... is to match their tactics, one by one," he whispered out, oceanic eyes narrowing, small fingers clenching into fists as he swung his head to the door on his right. "And then defy... the tyrannous stars."
Her morale suddenly and somehow rejuvenated in kind with the grin on the young Hero of Time's face, Tatl couldn't help but grin with him as she re-opened her mouth to respond.
"Hell yeah!"
THUD...
THUD...
THUD...
Even as the door echoed shut behind them, the two heroes' attention was chiefly-gained by the narrow passageway they had entered and the huge lumbering form waiting for them.
A large dark-blue shaded mechanical-like creature with a huge sea-shaded eye glare on down at them as it slowly stalked forward, its similarly huge legs leaving marks within the robust surface of the ground beneath it as it did.
"It's an Eyegore," Tatl began in a low-hovering voiced murmur, staying close-by. "Its weakness is the Light- Link what are you-?"
Conversely to what his guardian fairy was about to suggest, Link instead opted to meet the Eyegore's challenge by marching forward in a hard-eyed glare of his own.
"Link! No!" She hissed, sprinting forward in a sudden air-dash as if to catch up before he veered too close. "Stop!"
Just as before the youth opted to remain in steadfast silence as he approached in a similarly slow fashion to his opponent, his eyes fixated on the calm ocean blue of his enemy's glare. At last they came within range and, as they did, the Eyegore let out a kind of mechanical-like whirr before abruptly widening its eye. As it did, its colour very quickly switched from blue to a hot-lava red.
"Link!"
The young Hero of Time glared forward as he rose up only his right hand; hovering his fingers toward its open eye he clicked them, just as he did many times before.
This time, however, instead of a small ignition of flame... a bright light dove out from his index finger.
SHHHIIIIING...
GROAN-GROAN...
CRASH
In a final powerful slam, the Eyegore dropped to the narrowly-held ground beneath it in one last echoing rumble; a sign of defeat.
BOOM
VWIP-VWIP-VWIP-VWIP...
Just as with many enemies in his path and puzzles solved, a big brown treasure chest began to materialise behind him; something he noted in a satisfied smirking nod.
"H-How...? How did you-?"
Link couldn't help but chuckle as he turned his head up to face her.
"I thought your Aegir element was-"
"Fire, yeah," he interrupted her, although impolitely, with a calm enough chuckle. "I'm not sure," he answered again, turning his straw-haired head 'round to stare at the newly-opened door before them. He couldn't help but grow a small smirk to his countenance as he finished his response however, turning his pony-tailed head up to eye her as he did. "I guess after gettin' the Light Arrow it's somethin' I can do now, huh."
–
2
After pushing through the rest of Rockvale Temple's insides, the heroes stepped on outside to do just as the last Garo had instructed them to and, sure enough, there it was; a blood-red marker that the narrow-eyed Link previously noticed when they first entered the dungeon. Having fired a Light Arrow primarily at the red emblem hanging above the mouth-like door, Rockvale and Stone Tower itself decided to react in kind; in a powerful rumble it essentially switched sides.
Something even the wide-eyed Link did not see coming.
Rather incredibly when the party's consciousness returned, they stood on solid ground; in a remarkable event indeed Stone Tower itself literally turned on its side. As the two heroes turned their eyes 'round, even the sounds around them themselves appeared to be inverted almost as if to follow suite with the rest of the area.
"This is...," Tatl began, an incredulous tone written across her soprano. "Just..."
"Impossible," Link answered, a hardened tone to his own tenor, cerulean eyes narrowed at the inverted entrance to Rockvale Temple. "I know." He added, his gaze fixated on the one thing both sides of Stone Tower shared; the blood-red emblem hanging on its mouth-like wall.
Truly, he thought, it was a testament to the otherworldly powers the Dark Interlopers possessed.
"Thank the fates the goddesses chose to seal them away."
His silent-voiced ruminations carried him across the replaced platforms hanging over a sky that shouldn't exist, hopping on as he did.
FLAP-FLAP-SQUEAK-SQUEAK...
The sound of Bad Bats, hovering ever oppressively upward, made the firm-eyed Hero of Time turn his attention to it. High in the ceiling appeared to be a hug number, perhaps a small colony, watching him as intently as he watched them.
"Link... do you-?"
"Yeah...," he answered his guardian fairy wisely, nodding as he lowered his sky-blue eyed gaze downward to the source she was attempting to broach. "I feel it." He clarified, eyes narrowing ever further in the inflection of his sentence.
"Who... disturbs this place...?"
The voice of what seemed to be a woman filled the air, reverberating and knocking onerously against the walls of the large chamber the group entered.
"A Hylian... Akuma...?"
WHOOSH...
In a series of swishes, swings and squeaks the colony of Bad Bats somehow seemed to summon the owner of the mezzo-soprano toned woman. Having expected someone suiting her pleasant-sounding voice, even the watching Link had to hold back a wince; as the woman's figure began to take form she was dressed in what seemed to be a stocky-looking kind of blackened cloak, dark as night itself. The cloak itself appeared to be frayed and come apart, perhaps over the years of waiting, giving credit to the creature's origins.
It was only when Link spotted the look in her eye and the huge intimidating scythe she wielded that he made the connection.
This is a Dark Interloper, he thought, glaring back at her.
"Or she was at any rate."
So why has she been left here all alone?
Did they just forget about her...?
Or has she been left here to protect what remains of their society?
"Yes... I sense the stink of the Shinzui on you...," the woman spoke, her monster-like appearance belying the aromatic mezzo-soprano that left her jagged mouth. She spun the huge scythe she carried expertly 'round her right hand as she very slowly began to hover forward. "This is certainly not the first time we have been acquainted... is it...?"
The narrow-eyed Link hung his pony-tailed head to the side, eyes watching her carefully when he remembered the last Garo's words to him.
"We have always met here; don't you see? The Wheel of Fate demands it."
If this is a timeline in which I give in to the Shinzui, the young Hero of Time began to ponder on, taking a few safe steps back from his slow-approaching enemy.
Then I'm on the wrong path.
"Show me that power..."
Her voice, so reminiscent of the woman that possessed him in Hyrule's Shadow Temple, pulled him from his deep-pondering thoughts; he shot his cerulean-shaded eyes up and glared back at her.
"A power that we called the Fierce Deity!"
–
3
The Forgotten One
Aki Kitamura
SWISH-KERASH
In a powerful swing of the huge scythe she wielded, the cloak-wearing woman air-dashed forward to gain space before easily eating the ground up in the strength that she commanded. Having barely avoided the assault by a hair's breadth, Link's sky-blue eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror as he back-dashed through the air to gain his own defensive space on her. It was only when he began to skid down across the floor that Tatl opened her mouth to offer her usual sage advice.
"Its name is 'Gomess'!" She exclaimed, hovering back to stay close to him. "I don't know much about her history, only that, that orb in her body's the source of her strength!"
Just as Tatl claimed, the narrow-eyed Link's oceanic-eyed gaze was caught by the shining orb of yellow light hanging in Gomess' centre.
"So if I do nothing about those bats... then I'll never get a chance to show her the light, huh..." He finished his sentence in a half-grinning turn of his face, slowly swinging his eyes 'round to confront the little guardian fairy on his left. She couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to lighten the atmosphere.
A nice gesture, in consideration to the worrying space control that Gomess' scythe offered.
SWISH
Link's grin was lost to him almost immediately; his oceanic eyes darted to his left as the slow-hovering Gomess suddenly and somehow crossed an incredible distance that saw the watching pair surprised.
"L-Link!"
SWING-CRASH
As Gomess' scythe came swinging vertically down, crashing the ground on which he stood, his very form itself began to blur and shine in and out of itself; a signature of the after-image technique.
SLICE-SQUEAK-SCREECH
In a grunting recovery, Link re-appeared at the growling Gomess' defended rear, swiping the Gilded Sword savagely and diagonally across at her. Unfortunately however his counter-assault only managed to land on the many Bad Bats that surrounded her form, bats which would very quickly be replenished with more.
Truly it was an effective defensive and offensive strategy.
"There's no way we'll get to her core like this!"
Tatl's anxious exclamation, however worried, could only make the listening Hylian narrow his eyes in silence as he landed in a simple-sounding grunt.
"Tellin' me..." He muttered over his shoulder, his eyes remaining on the growling grim reaper-like form the woman took hold of.
"Show it to me, Akuma..."
The woman's voice didn't seem to come directly from Gomess' mouth itself as the mezzo-soprano she spoke with appeared to echo out from around them, bouncing off the walls of the very battle arena in which they fought together. Link narrowed his eyes carefully, keeping the Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield close to him as he very slowly backed up away from her similarly slow-pursuit.
"Give in to the Shinzui..."
"Fuck you."
Even the listening Tatl grimaced as she listened; a forceful and hardened tone filled the usually respectful-voiced and happy-go-lucky boy's tenor. Even the crude language in which he used, much against his upbringing, was enough to make her realise how personal this was for him.
No-one can say he isn't resisting, the little guardian fairy thought to herself.
As they very gradually began to approach the wall behind them, a locked room containing what seemed to be the boss key, all avenues of retreat quickly started to dry up.
"That's it...," the woman's ghost-like pitch began again, a kind of smirk in the tone of her playfully-malevolent voice. "Struggle... it feels all the sweeter when you eventually surrender to your 'path to heaven'."
Her words, so softly-spoken and yet so fierce in their tone, knocked heavily against the walls behind the hard-eyed Hylian. As the distance between the two warriors eventually closed, Gomess moved first, as she had done previously; in a wide-eyed air-dash she hefted her skull-encrusted scythe high into the air before grunting as she swung it in a wide and ruthless diagonal angle.
CLANGGG-SKRRRRRRR
Choosing to meet her assault with his own defensive manoeuvre, Link shot up the Gilded Sword as opposed to his Mirror Shield to meet the sickle; with both hands gripped on its hilt, the Mirror Shield held up by the strap across his arm, he narrowed his oceanic-eyed gaze back at the contrastingly wide-eyed lime-green orbs staring back at him. Sparks of gold, silver and otherworldly steel manifested between them in their firm-eyed struggle; it was only when Gomess' scythe very slowly began to push the grunting Link further down that he realised his mistake.
"L-Link! Move!"
Just as before, his small Kokiri-clothed form began to shimmer and shine in and out of itself; this time, having expected an after-image in place of her earlier foe, Gomess narrowed her eyes and made ready to turn and swing savagely behind her. However, before she could, she noticed the boy's form transforming into what seemed to be some kind of doll. Her eyes widened a second time and this time in surprise; as her scythe easily tore through the doll's form it broke it into two and sent it tumbling to the ground.
Suddenly realising she had been tricked again and this time by a technique gifted to him by Ikana's king, Gomess' desperate-eyed search darted 'round in frantic-faced search for her vanished enemy.
SHHHHIIING...
SCREECH
An absurdly bright ray of light itself burst out behind her form, causing her to cry out in a sudden angry shriek; in response to the abrupt illumination, so too did the colony of Bad Bats disperse, their squeaks and squeals renting the air alongside their master's.
"Now Link, now!"
Hardly needing to be told twice, the blonde-headed youth filled the Gilded Sword with light-style Aegir before yelling out as he spun his body 'round in a ferocious counter-attack, his target the butter-shaded orb in Gomess' centre.
"YAHH!"
CRACK-SQUELCH
Time stopped for the two warriors; as he spun 'round savagely, both hands gripped upon the Gilded Sword's golden and silver hilt, Link remained in his stance somehow having never lifted a single boot from the ground in his advance. Oddly enough, even as he dealt what seemed to be the finishing blow, he expected the orb to make some kind of metallic noise as he destroyed it.
Instead, it sounded like his weapon cut through flesh.
"In-Incredible..."
The woman's voice, though similarly echoing and reverberating, was now devoid completely of the ghost-like quality that had taken to it; a gesture that the narrow-eyed Link found more faith in when he turned to look at her.
Though she still wore her long overcoat, it was somewhat differently designed; the collar seemed to be much more defined and jutted out at its shouldered ends, pointing toward her newly-recovered head. A bun of raven-black hair was tamed, similarly within a ponytail as to his own, with a messy curtain hanging on her fringe; a difficult section to see from the Hero of Time's watching position. Even when he looked down at the long overcoat and the shoes that seemed to jut out from within however, he knew.
She had changed, perhaps back into human form.
"E-Even without the power of the Fierce Deity...," she began again, a laugh present within her mezzo-soprano. "You... t-truly are... the hope... of the Întuneric Visători."
In her pained and agonising cough she revealed far too much to the listening and wide-eyed Link; so much so that he could only swing his body 'round to face her, holding himself back from gasping in amazement. Gomess dropped to the floor on one knee and, as she did, the scythe she previously commanded sunk deep into the surface beneath.
CLINK
The former Kokiri's eyes were drawn directly to the blade's depiction of a Stalchild's skull resting on its front; a kind of dreading feeling began to fill through him, something that seemed to be normal now in his venture through Ikana and Rockvale.
"If I was... just a bit younger..."
Gomess' words made him dart his wide-eyed head 'round to face her and there she was; leaning on her one remaining left hand to stop herself from falling, her right resting across the massive gashing wound across her chest. It was then that she turned her bloody-faced head to face his and Link couldn't help but grow a chill along his spine.
Why do I feel like I've seen her somewhere before, he thought silently.
The sense of déjà vu that filled him upon seeing her face and the deep-purple within her eyes left him feeling anxious and unsettled.
"Then maybe... just maybe...," she half-laughed, coughing mid-sentence, eyes narrowing deep into his own. The Bad Bats around her very slowly began to squeal, squeak and screech as a divine kind of fire filled their bodies. "Aki Kitamura would have loved to have shared her body with Akuma's..."
Her words, a kind of double-meaning to them, certainly left their impression; as they bounced off the walls softly, her body also dove up in flames alongside the Bad Bats that once hung near her form. In great contrast to his usual goofy nature the listening Link couldn't help but narrow his eyes as his heart-rate grew rapid, his heavy breathing moving in time to his high-raising stress.
–
4
"There must be a path or a route or something we haven't unlocked yet..."
Tatl could only frown, her heart reaching out to her partner but not quite crossing the new distance that had grown between them.
Even after having defeated Gomess and recovering the boss key, the heroes began to slowly sink back into despair in listening to her last words; a lasting impression that seemed to link up with some of what Yoshiyuki had said earlier in their first outing.
"We're not on the right road... if we're still getting messages like that," Link mused aloud, biting on the tip of his left thumb in deep-thought as he stepped through one of Rockvale Temple's many vertically-opened doors. As it shut noisily behind him, the sound of a nearby Death Armos made him unconsciously take out his Hero's Bow. "What's the answer...?"
SQUELCH-FWIP
As the Light Arrow made contact with the Death Armos' emblem, reminiscent of the blood-red marker outside the temple's entrance, he turned his hard-eyed frown on the big brown treasure chest hanging upside down high above him.
CLICK
WHUCK-WHUCK-WHUCK
"Link... this may not sound like much..."
Tatl's beginning response, even as he stepped through the next door ahead of them, resonated within his small and pointed ears.
"But have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?"
His sky-blue eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a second Eyegore. Just as he saw it, it saw him; it whirred to life and began to very slowly thump its mechanical-like legs against the narrowly-held ground beneath it.
"Yeah... kind of."
CLICK-SHHHHIIIING...
In a second click of his fingers, a ray of light burst from them; Aegir concentrated within his body shone in the Eyegore's very eye itself, sending it stumbling and groaning back. Its eye turned blood-red, presumably from the absurd pain, and eventually it rolled backward; a sign of defeat.
GROAN-GROAN...
RUMBLE-CRASH-BOOM
The ground shook just as the first time as the Eyegore dropped to its feet and exploded into bits, leaving very little of itself.
"Zelda told me a little of it," the young Hylian half-explained, eyes narrowing once more. "A butterfly flappin' its wings can-"
"Cause major distortions in time, yeah," Tatl nodded, her little bulbous form moving in tandem with her. "So even if you do one tiny little thing out of this timeline's whack... then you can rewrite history itself!"
He couldn't help but furrow his brow as she spoke, thinking on her words themselves.
"And don't forget... you're a time-traveller too."
That fact surprised him.
So I am, he thought, the words reminding him.
"Of course...," he murmured out, turning his eyes downward before very quickly whipping up to face her. "So then-"
"Absolutely nothing's written in stone," Tatl spoke, a confident grin in the tone of her soprano. "If you can time travel... there's no way you have to stay to one timeline!"
"Normally I'd argue against doing any further damage to the space-time continuum... but...," Link chuckled, eyes briefly shut as he shook his straw-haired head in dismissal into conceding. "At this rate... it's worth it."
Having leapt through the rainbow-like drop that remained within the bowels of Rockvale Temple, the final hurdle at last, Link found his new surroundings somewhat odd indeed; pots of Aegir and presumably other goods and items lay scattered 'roundabout the new platform on which he stood. All around him appeared to be an expanse of desert that went as far as the eye could see, the only other sight being what appeared to be smaller ruined towers and other such construction littered around the wasteland.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
Even as the ground beneath him began to shake Link swung his narrow-eyed head 'round to his rear, his ponytail of blonde hair whipping 'round with his stark movement.
CRASH-CRUMBLE-CRUMBLE...
In a powerful smash of one of the old towers resting around, a huge insect-like creature rose from the desert itself, its gargantuan form easily dwarfing the young hero's.
"W-Woah..."
Tatl's wide-eyed murmur resonated well within the listening Link; he watched the auburn-shaded snake-like creature fly through the air in a slow growl. As if called to action by its comrade, another mound of sand burst apart to reveal a second insect, calling itself up to join its red-shaded twin. This one, a dark-blue shaded one, gave the two heroes a firm-eyed look with its widened trio of aqua-coloured eyes before diving back into the sand beneath it.
In great spite to the horrified mood that his partner was in, Link couldn't help but grow a small smirk on his face as he re-opened his mouth to give voice to his thoughts.
"Someone call an exterminator?"
–
5
Giant Masked Insect
Twinmold
Even while the blue-shaded Twinmold flew overhead, Link's sky-blue eyes narrowed before one shut presumably in concentration; he arched his back up and pulled back an arrow, caked in light-style Aegir.
"That's it... on its eyes!"
Just as Tatl advised him on his shoulder he re-opened his eyes just as Twinmold's form pulled within range.
FWIP
SQUELCH
GROAN... GROAN...
In an incredible show of dexterity, the standing Link somehow managed to split the arrow's offence apart as it made contact with Twinmold's body parts, effectively assaulting all three in one deft manoeuvre.
"Nice! I wouldn't expect anything less!"
The listening youth couldn't help but crack a small grin in response to her words, half-surprised.
"It was only a few weeks back she was insulting me any chance she got." He thought, his grin carrying him on as he pulled the Hero's Bow back to rest on his belt behind him, giving almost immediate chase to the fast-plummeting form of the aqua-shaded snake-like insect.
CRASH
As it smashed apart the ground and one or two already ruined towers hanging around their positions, a sickening eye not dissimilar to the eyes already present on Majora's Mask itself sprouted out of its mouth. When the former Kokiri came within range he pulled his small left fist back and, charging it with Aegir, widened his eyes as he shot forward in a blinding and yelling fire-loaded punch.
FRRRR-SMASH-SCREECH
GROAN...
Having had enough already of the agonising flame in which it was assaulted with, Twinmold turned its flight to the skies above and gave out one final groan of pain before its body began to explode, all starting from its huge tail.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM
FWOOOOHHH...
CRASHHHH...
With no more energy to rely on, the first monster fell head-first into the desert beneath them, blowing apart wind and sand everywhere from its incredibly violent descent.
SHWII-SHWII-SHWII-SHWII...
Surprised by the sudden soft whine he was so used to hearing, Link could only swing his form 'round to raise a curious eyebrow at the source of it. Sure enough, there it was; a gold-laden treasure chest.
"During a battle...?!" He gasped, eyes widened. Almost as soon as he spoke however, the ground rumbled ruthlessly again as his enemy's twin re-emerged from the subterranean beneath, starkly reminding the group of their second problem.
Only this one didn't have obvious weak points like the first.
He couldn't help but exchange an unsure glance with the floating Tatl and, seemingly reading his thoughts, she nodded toward the chest itself. The youth grew a small grin as he broke out into a run toward it to reach it. It was only when he unearthed the loot's mysterious contents however that the two widened their eyes in surprise.
A stone-like face stared back at him, made of an otherworldly kind of magic.
"There's a... weird kind of Aegir coming from it...," Tatl murmured out, turning her head lightly as she stared over at it, making a kind of unsure face behind her bulbous little form. "But it's not... evil. Not like Majora's Mask anyway..."
Link frowned as he stared back at the curious mask they had obtained, raising his own eyebrow at it in interest.
She's right, he thought.
There's no negative feeling at all coming from it like there was from the Fused Shadow and Majora's Mask.
So why do I still feel uneasy...?
CRASH
The cacophonous shout of the ground and towers itself surrounding him brought him smashing back to earth; he swung his wide-eyed frown 'round to his right and, sure enough, the one remaining Twinmold was savagely and ruthlessly tearing apart what remained of the battle arena. As it did, a trio of what appeared to be small versions of its own form shot up from the ground underneath; familiars essentially, all eyes on the heroes ahead.
He exchanged one final shrug with the watching Tatl, almost as if for some kind of approval, before eventually pulling the new mask to his face.
Just as with the Deku, Goron and Zora Mask, a foreign kind of magic encircled the boy's form as the mask took hold. But unlike the three race's transformation, only his physical size and height grew; it was something that not only surprised himself but the wide-eyed watchful Tatl. As his normally high-pitched tenor turned low and deep to match his new gargantuan size, so too did the ground shake and rumble in an effort to contain his golem-like form.
"Oh my good goddess..."
Tatl's wide-eyed whisper was lost to the mammoth's own wide-eyed gasp; he turned his masked eyes on his new much larger palms and body, near unable to believe his new form. It was only when Twinmold's familiars very quickly approached, however, that his new instinct kicked in; he couldn't help but let out a small grin as he ran his left fist long and wide across the air as the first familiar jumped at him.
SQUELCH-SCREECH
He laughed, his newly-gained joy reaching high with the power he output, as he smashed his fists powerfully against the squealing little Twinmoldians beneath him.
CRASH
Almost as if having been called by its children's passing, the last Twinmold itself surfaced from underground, spitting up dark-shaded metal and plumes and sand as it did. It glared at the curious-eyed Link before screeching at him and abruptly charging forward.
"Link it's coming!"
Needing little advice in combat, the grinning youth opted to side-step the insectoid's obvious assault before reaching down with his left arm to grapple at the creature's head with.
CRUK-KRRR...
Twinmold's form halted almost immediately and it screamed angrily as it began to thrash its tail about, almost as if to insult its younger enemy. Finding no success in its struggling it redirected its long and wide tail to swing and turn directly for him; Link widened his eyes beneath the Giant's Mask as he saw it coming, his arms already holding his foe's similarly large head. Managing to surprise the watching guardian fairy a second time however, Link widened his eyes for the umpteenth time as he shot his knee directly into the tail's unwinding pathway, before eventually finishing it off with a grunting headbutt.
CRACKKKK-SMASH
SCREECH
In a cacophonous howl Twinmold's very body itself let out a sickening snap as the youth's counter-attack laid fruit; now presumably unable to move, its body's bones broken, it merely widened its trio of eyes in its enemy's direction as the grip on its neck began to tighten one final time.
POP-SNAP
KHHH...
–
6
Twinmold let out one final gasp of agony, its three eyes rolling upward in surrendering. Link let go of its head, issuing it one last glance as it dropped loudly to the ground beneath them.
DROOOOM...
In response, just as with its brethren, its body began to blow up at the tail in numerous large explosions. Thankfully still within his giant form, they were mere nuisances for the gargantuan Hylian; he grunted once as he brought up his arms to block the sudden blasts before eventually raising his hands to grasp at the Giant's Mask.
VWOHHHHH...
As his form very quickly began to shift once more, he soon found his energy, stamina and even Aegir itself deplete from his body; something he registered with a wide-eyed gasp to his knees.
"You're okay!"
"Haa... haa... haa..."
He could barely stop the profuse sweating that threatened to blind his wide-eyed sky-shaded orbs, as he laid both shaking hands upon the handy platform that saved him from the wide expanse of desert surrounding him. Struggling to control his raging heartbeat, even his stamina had left him; seemingly in utilising the Giant's Mask, all of his Aegir and physical energy had been near completely depleted.
This wasn't like using the Shinzui, he thought.
This was something else.
"But it's not evil at its core, at the very least..."
His thoughts brought a small smile growing to his sweat-stricken face, even as he rose it to face the blinking Tatl hanging over him. The sound of the nearby-appearing warp-hole in the centre of the platform hummed out behind her, a kind of lulling that the heroes chose not to take for granted.
"What?" She asked him, a curious blink evident in the flashing her form gave off.
He couldn't help but laugh in response and, somehow as if losing all hold upon the ground beneath him, dropped to his back and began howling in what seemed to be amusement. Although she was unable to deduce his thoughts completely, the hovering Tatl grew a small smile as she watched.
At last, he had found what he had been searching for; not for the missing Navi... but for the one thing her light offered to him and the Shinzui that threatened to swallow him whole.
He found hope.