The narrative goes back in time to t-minus-149 hours before the fall of Hyrule Castle. The plot is not jumping the shark: The plot is shield-jumping over the Zora Council of Elders.
Urbosa and Zelda walked back to the stone gate in silence. although the Spring of Courage was absolutely a place worth taking pictographs of, neither of them was in the mood to appreciate it. Zelda was hoping that making visits to the other springs before her 17th birthday visit to Mount Lanayru would help matters. At least they were out of the castle.
Urbosa wanted to vaporize something, but Zelda's insecurities were not a tangible thing. King Rhoam was tangible but there were other issues with that course of action. (King Rhoam was just an idiot who wanted to not have his daughter eaten by Ganon. Also there were diplomatic issues with vaporizing him.) Rumbling underfoot signaled to Zelda and her Champions that something was up. It was a light rumble that was barely noticeable.
Revali flew up and, as soon as it was possible to be seen, spotted a thin line of dark smoke rising through the trees by a creek. They all had expected more from Ganon and it was underwhelming. Daruk set the pace as he was the slowest in the party. His steps thundered as the Stone with the Sword that Seals the Darkness gleamed in the evening light. It was originally in their plans to go straight to the Divine Beasts but the crack in the ground was right in their way to the parking place. The forces of evil were so inconsiderate about these things.
Revali could have made it to Vah Medoh but the line of sight was just too perfect for archery. He glared at the creature pulling itself from the ground and wheezing.
Revali flew right back to his team and missed the thing wiping off the optic lens on his helmet and muttering "AAAAAaaaand I have no idea where my sword is. Lovely. Come on, map system... What do you mean communications are offline?!" It looked down at his armor at what should have been blue. He saw purple and went, "Oh."
Revali wouldn't have understood anyways even if the language was modern Hylian. It wasn't so much that the newcomer had a frog in his throat as much as the entire Don Gero Choir crammed into his esophagus. Link's attempts to reboot his Sheikah Sensor were interrupted by the Champions' logical reaction to the scene.
The fight with the 'Demon King' had been unexpectedly easy for the first stage.
"Ica nexpla initsth iscur sea nd-*cough*" The glowing red eyes looked back and forth between the arrows which were being aimed at him. The demon's voice rasped like he'd been gargling dirt for a while. This might be a side effect when people dig their way out from underground covered in darkness. "-thi sreal lyis nt *hack* wha titlo oksl ike-" Mipha lunged and he jumped aside with practiced dodging form. "-Myn ameis Link!"
Link avoided Mipha and Revali's attacks with ease while he kept pleading in a long-forgotten ancient language. The mud and grime of centuries didn't help his appearance, but Zelda noticed armor akin to the plating on the Guardians. It is likely anything else would have rotted ages ago.
"Die demon!"
"Oh come on, that should have hit him!"
"Stay focused! He's the Calamity for crying out loud, did you expect him to stand still?!"
"Idon tunde rstan da wor dyou ar es ayi ng! Wai tistha tthe-" The 'demon' looked at the SSSD on Daruk's shoulder with wide eyes. This distraction caused him to take a stab in the arm from Mipha's trident. The armor was effective, but the force behind the strike would probably leave a bruise in the morning. An arrow scored a solid hit on the helmet and it fell off.
Urbosa's lightning struck Link while he was saying "Sur elyth isisa cru eljo ke..." He was stunned by the crackling electricity. Daruk took aim at Link and hurled the Stone with the Sword that Seals the Darkness with all his might. The twitching demon was then crushed by the SSSD and left in the dirt with the SSSD rolling off his back.
Zelda yelled for people to stay alert. Even though a lack of video games were to be found in Hyrule, legends still spoke of a second porcine form that always seemed to happen as if to say 'I know I lost but I still hate you.' It wouldn't take them completely by surprise when the final boss had multiple forms. The not-quite-six-foot-tall fellow with the white hair, glowing red eyes, and grey skin lay on the grass without moving. Daruk's masonry chucking seemed to have crushed the demon into submission.
Link had scarcely been down for a moment before the air around him and the crack exploded with darkness and purple lightning. It threw all the champions back. Even Daruk was blasted away as the miasma completely defied conservation of matter and roared away from them. The Champions picked themselves up off the ground and chugged elixirs as they ran for the Divine Beasts. Daruk hastily grabbed the SSSD. Zelda dutifully followed Urbosa's command to stay at her side.
Had she looked backwards, she might have seen the Master Sword sitting down on the grass next to the motionless white-haired man. It wasn't until they were out of sight on the way to the Castle that Daruk noticed the stuff he was lugging lost a few digits of the acronym and was now just an S. The rest of the acronym had slid out and fallen into the grass near a river and a rather battered individual in cracked Ancient Armor.
The fight with the 'Demon King' had been unexpectedly easy for the first stage. Pity no one understood what he was saying.
First, we look at the impact zone as the Champions ride off to save the day and chase down that giant cloud of darkness, wherever it was going.
The first one to notice the SSD from the SSSD missing was Revali, with his eye for detail.
Revali yelled, "Where is the sword?!"
Everyone looked at the flooring which was crumbling apart. The clump of masonry was declumping without the Master Sword's stubborn refusal to be removed by people and three tiles dropped during the moment of silence. Realization set in before the last tile reached the ground.
As one the Champions all turned around and moved as fast as they could.
Now at the side of the river, the fog of darkness had not gone unnoticed by the servants of Ganon. It was properly doomy and visible for miles around. One scout Yiga ran to see what the fuss was about and had been watching from a distance. He made a strategic decision to stay away from Urbosa's lighting strike range and have faith in Lord Ganon's fighting ability. After the explosion, he crept closer to the aftermath and saw the armored thing move and groan.
"L-Lord Ganon?... OH MY GOSH I'M COMING!" Yiga Guy sprinted in to the villainous rescue. The groaning guy was hacking up more dust and coughing. Yiga Guy tried to drag him as gently, and quickly as possible to the river. The wounded man scooped water onto his face and kept hacking and spitting for a while.
All the while, Yiga Guy was speaking in a constant stream of worshipful apologies. "Oh, Lord Ganon, I'm sorry those awful people did this to you. We'll help you get revenge on that Goron yet. Drinking the Princess' blood will probably help you feel better and how did you do that thing with the explosion it was a really good idea to distract those 'heroes' like that and we have all been so excited to see you come in our day and..." Yiga guy dug in his pockets for anything that could help.
Ancient Armored Fellow was wiping as much dirt off as he could. He looked much more like a person now rather than a dark Malicious monster. He looked positively un-menacing as he gulped water and ran his eyes along the ground in search of something. It was difficult to pick out what he was saying since his voice was so harsh and raw. "Sorr ywha twa stha t? Hol doni got taf indm ysword..." The man covered in mud squinted up at the red and black costume. He looked at the mask and then pointed at Yiga Guy. "Heym anyo urma skis upsi dedo wn. Jus tlett ingyo ukn ow."
Yiga Guy said, "Huh?" Yiga Guy looked at the filthy and puzzled demon lord in front of him. Maybe the hearty elixir would help Lord Ganon? He assumed so. He handed the vial to his lord and got him to drink it with very little hand motions. Wounded Muddy Man smiled after choking down the elixir and starting to feel the effects.
Wounded Guy tried again. This time he repeated himself in an ancient Sheikah dialect. He pointed up at his own face. Both men stared at each other. Wounded guy and Yiga guy kept going back and forth with the same confused 'huh' and incomprehensible gibberish.
Eventually Wounded Man put a hand up at his own forehead and one at his chin. He pantomimed a 180 degree spin along his face in a clockwise direction. Yiga Guy mimicked the gesture. This was repeated a few times. After the sixth attempt, Yiga Guy realized what Link was trying to say and got an idea of what the problem was.
"OHHHHH. No, the Sheikah symbol is supposed to be upside down... Of course you don't understand me, how long have you been trapped underground?! Leaping Lizalfos, I feel dumb now."
"Sorr yisti lldon tkno wwha tyoua res ayi-" Link's eyes widened as his gaze traveled across the grass. His smile grew even bigger. He cried joyfully, "MYSWORD!" Yiga Guy stepped aside as Link leaped to the ground with surprising speed. He still was in bad shape, but he was ignoring pain in favor of clutching a shiny metal object to his chest in a hug. The energetic glee and a massive smile made it clear just how happy Link was to get his stuff back.
Yiga Guy got a better look at the Master Sword, "You are not Lord Ganon! How dare you impersonate him?!"
"Huh?"
If you think that Link came out of the fight as the winner, you are correct. Yiga guy got Link in the right elbow with his blade but, even wounded, Link parried and retaliated. After the initial surprise, the attacker stood no chance of victory. Link gave up on trying to talk the Yiga guy down.
Link wondered, Am I still radiating evil and stuff? Does this outfit make me look possessed? He really doubted his ceramic-alloy armor looked possession-y but it was covered in a lot of dirt and scratches. He didn't have time to check a mirror right at the moment.
Today had not been Link's day. As he was fending off this angry Sheikah and wondering what he did to tick off the man, the Rito from earlier swooped down from the sky in an unbelievably theatrical manner. Link did not understand a single word of the guy's speech, but it was dramatic.
The Yiga vanished and he faced the archer. He saw red swimming in the water and realized he was going against two people, or possibly three. If he didn't have the Master Sword back in his arms, he probably would have just laid down and let things kill him. That girl earlier looked like Zelda, but there was no recognition in her eyes. Just how long had he been trapped?
The Rito archer had a strung bow pointed at him and, Link assumed this anyways, was yelling for him to drop the sword. Link kept the point leveled at his foe as best as he could, despite the blood loss.
"I will not drop this sword," Link said to the Rito, "It is MY sword." In the corner of his vision he saw the movement of the Zora leaving the water. She slowly and carefully went to the side of the Rito and the two were conferring about something. The archer did not relax even as the rest of the group were coming up the road. No one seemed to be wearing proper, Sheikah-made, armor.
Zelda had not been visible at first. She'd been hidden behind a Gerudo and that boulder-chucking Goron. It... wasn't his friend Zelda? Link could not decide if he was grateful for the SSSD landing on him, or angry. He settled on the grateful. He had been radiating darkness at the time and, in the Goron's place, would have done the same thing. Maybe he shouldn't be pointing a sword at these people? He didn't want to die just after being reunited with his sword. If he was going to die, he wanted something to eat first.
Link didn't remember how he ended up on the ground again but his elbow definitely felt better now. He noticed the Zora holding his arm... healing it? This was a development that he liked. He looked up at the group of faces which were angry, curious, and alarmed. Each face had many different emotions, but all of them looked and sounded confused. He stayed down and tried not to antagonize as they all argued in what was, to him at least, total gibberish.
Food would have been nice, especially with water. He'd even eat rock roast at this point.
Special thanks to you lovely reviewers, favoriters, and followers. Green Swordsman, Ri2, MoonSamurai, and Lleu are pretty nice people. Valonstar Aldrendaux spotted a dreadful error that needed fixing in this chapter.