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Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 17: Ganon's Castle

Previously, our heroes have finally awakened all of the six Sages, and Rauru requested them to return to the Temple of Time, which is exactly what they'll do next.

They returned to the Desert Colossus, where Link immediately played the Prelude of Light to warp him and the others back to the Temple of Time in order to meet with the person Rauru mentioned.

Once there, they heard a familiar voice from behind:

"I have been waiting for you, heroes." it was Sheik.

"Sheik…" Link breathed after he and the others turned around.

"Link, the Hero of Time… And Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Toad, the Heroes from Another World… You have overcome many hardships and awakened six Sages. And now you have a final challenge – a showdown with Ganondorf, the King of Evil… and Bowser, the Tyrant King…"

"WAIT, WHAT?!" the Mario cast's eyes widened upon the mention of the name 'Bowser'.

"BOWSER IS HERE?!" Luigi yelled.

"I should've known…" Mario muttered, clenching his fists in anger. "The name 'Tyrant King' sounded quite familiar to me…"

"But… How did Bowser get into Hyrule as well?" Peach asked.

"I do not know why, unfortunately." Sheik replied with grief. "But it makes even more sense about why you were sent to this world…"

"That is a good point." Toad stated.

"Looks like we'll have to face each of our own enemies." Link said.

"True." Sheik nodded. "But before that…I have things I want to tell only to you. Please listen." everyone nodded. "First, have you heard about the Grand Star of Magic?"

"Well, Rauru mentioned that to us, but we don't know what that is." Yoshi recalled.

"The Grand Star of Magic is another powerful star that if one wields it, it will grant them a huge amount of power. Like with the other Grand Stars, it cannot be wielded by people from this world. This Star's origin is still unknown, but it is also located in the Sacred Realm along with the Triforce and can be enhanced by the power of other Grand Stars."

"Wow…" Toad awed.

"The nature of this Star changes depending on the person wielding it. A pure heart would make it remain a Star. And an evil heart will change it into a Ztar." the Mario cast shuddered at that, knowing how bad Ztars can be. "When the entrance to the Sacred Realm opened up when Link removed the Master Sword, Bowser managed to get ahold of this Star, and due to his evil nature and the fact that he's also from a different world, it changed into a Grand Ztar."

"And since it grants the user a huge amount of power regardless of who touched it, that's how Bowser became the Tyrant King, right?" Mario guessed.

"Correct."

"Yikes…" Luigi trailed. "I can't imagine how dangerous Bowser must be now…"

"But I know that with your combined power and efforts, you can win against him." Sheik encouraged. "Well, now there's something else you must know about the Triforce. It is another unknown legend of the Triforce passed down by the Shadow Folk, the Sheikah…

"If you would seek the sacred triangle, listen well… The resting place of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart… the heart of one who enters it… If an evil heart, the Realm will become full of evil; if pure, the Realm will become a paradise. The Triforce…the sacred triangle… It is a balance that weighs the three forces: Power, Wisdom, and Courage.

"If the heart of the one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one will gain the True Force to govern all. But if that one's heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Only one part will remain for the one who touched the Triforce…the part representing the force that one most believes in. If that one seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands."

"Now that's some story…" Yoshi breathed in amazement.

"Never knew the Triforce would be such a complicated relic to deal with…" Mario remarked.

"It is." Sheik replied. "Seven years ago, Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, and Bowser used the door you opened in the Temple of Time and entered the Sacred Realm."

"And from there, Bowser took the Grand Star of Magic while Ganondorf took the Triforce, right?" Luigi guessed.

"You're right. But when Ganondorf laid his hands on the Triforce, the legend came true. The Triforce separated into three parts. Only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf's hand. The strength of the Triforce of Power enabled him to become a mighty, evil king, but his and Bowser's dark ambitions were not satisfied. To gain complete mastery of the world, Ganondorf started looking for those chosen by destiny to hold the two other Triforce parts and Bowser is now seeking the other Grand Stars that you all hold."

"So we can't let Bowser get ahold of the Grand Stars we got from the Sages…" Mario stated, earning a nod from Sheik.

"But… who has the other two Triforce parts?" Peach asked.

"The one who holds the Triforce of Courage is…" Sheik pointed at Link. "…you, Link!"

"M-Me?!" Link gasped, while the Mario cast also had the same reaction. "But how?!"

"You've proven yourself as a fearless hero by overcoming great enemies and all sorts of obstacles. Thus, you were worthy enough to wield the Triforce of Courage."

"Unbelievable…"

"And… the last part?" Toad asked.

"The other, who holds the Triforce of Wisdom…" Sheik said, closing her eyes. "…is the seventh Sage, who is destined to be the leader of them all…"

With a few swift arm movements, Sheik rose her hand, showing the Triforce of Wisdom on the back of her hand… before the whole place glowed, so the heroes shielded their eyes. When the glow faded, the heroes uncovered their eyes… and saw that in Sheik's place… was none other than Princess Zelda as they all gasped.

"It is I, the Princess of Hyrule, Zelda." she said.

"Princess Zelda?" Link gasped. "Sheik was you the whole time?!"

"I apologize for meeting you in disguise, but it was necessary to hide from the King of Evil. Please forgive me…"

"You don't have to." Peach smiled. "What matters is that you're safe." Zelda couldn't help but smile as well before getting serious again and slowly walks towards them.

"On that day, seven years ago, Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle. I saw you all as I was escaping from the castle with my attendant, Impa. I thought I should entrust the ocarina to you… I thought that would be our best chance… As long as you had the ocarina in your possession, I thought Ganondorf and Bowser could never enter the Sacred Realm, but…" she began to put on a sad frown. "But something I could never expect happened…

"After you opened the Door of Time, the Master Sword sealed you away in the Sacred Realm… Your spirits remained in the Sacred Realm…and then the Triforce and the Grand Star of Magic fell into Ganondorf and Bowser's hands. They went on to invade the Sacred Realm… Ganondorf and Bowser had become the Evil King and the Tyrant King, and the Sacred Realm became a world of evil. All of this is an unfortunate coincidence."

"Oh dear…" the heroes thought alarmed. "So we made things even worse…"

"I passed myself off as a Sheikah and hoped that you would return. I waited for seven years…" Zelda then puts on a confident smile while placing her hands together. "And…now you are back. The dark age ruled by Ganondorf the Evil King and Bowser the Tyrant King will end!"

"You bet!" Toad grinned as everyone else had confident looks on their faces.

"The six Sages will open the sealed door and lure Ganondorf back into the Sacred Realm. I will then seal the door to the Sacred Realm from this world. Thus, Ganondorf the Evil King will vanish from Hyrule. Meanwhile, Bowser will be sent back to his world once he also falls."

"If we stick together, we'll be unstoppable!" the heroes thought.

"Everyone… In order to do this, I need your courage again. Please protect me while I do my part." Zelda requested. "And here is a weapon that can penetrate the Evil King's defenses… The power given to the chosen ones… The sacred Light Arrow!"

A golden magic circle appeared around Zelda as she uses it to conjure an orb of light, which materialized into the Light Arrows, flying over to Link's inventory.

"Awesome! Thanks, Zelda." Link thanked.

"You're welcome." Zelda replied before turning to Peach. "And Peach, your light powers that you can unleash can also work like the Light Arrows. It is all thanks to the power of the six Grand Stars you collected that granted you this ability as well. In truth, all of your powers have been improved by the same reason."

"Really? That's great!" Peach beamed.

"That's what the Grand Stars do in this world…?" Mario breathed. "That's incredible…"

"Isn't it?" Zelda smiled. "Alright, now let's mo-…"

All of a sudden, the whole place began to rumble, interrupting Zelda.

"W-What the?! What's going on?!" Luigi flinched.

"That rumbling… It can't be?!" Zelda exclaimed… before she was suddenly encased in a large pink crystal.

"NO!" the heroes yelled.

"Princess Zelda…you foolish traitor!" Ganondorf's voice came. "I commend you for avoiding my pursuit for seven long years."

"Ganondorf…" Link growled under his breath.

"But you let your guard down… I and Ganondorf knew you would appear if we let these chumps wander around!" Bowser's voice came after.

"Bowser…" Mario muttered, clearly with a hint of venom in his voice.

"Looks like you geniuses finally discovered it was me, huh? You could say that I was sent to this world by a magical accident, and I'm glad I got sent here!"

"Magical accident… It has to be Kamek again…" Mario thought.

"I convinced Ganondorf that he and I would make fine partners, and I was right!" it was at this moment that Zelda let out a yelp as her body inclined upwards. "Our only mistake was to slightly underestimate the power of you, jerks." Zelda began to float up in the air.

"No, Bowser… It was not their power we misjudged. It was the power of the Triforce of Courage!" Ganondorf corrected him. "But with the Triforce of Wisdom that Zelda has… And the Grand Stars these fools from the other world have… When we obtain all of these… Then we will become the true rulers of the world!"

"Oh, I like the sound of that! I've been wanting this for a long time! I can even use the power of the Grand Ztar to crush Mario and his stupid friends!"

"If you want to rescue Zelda, come to my castle!"

With that, the crystal containing Zelda vanished as both Ganondorf and Bowser laughed evilly.

"No…" Link breathed before punching the ground in anger. "This CAN'T be happening!" the Mario cast looked at him while frowning as they could hear him crying in frustration.

"Link…" Navi whispered saddened.

"While I also get pretty mad that Bowser attacks the Mushroom Kingdom and kidnaps Peach, I never take this too seriously like Link here…" Mario remarked.

"We know that, bro." Luigi said with a nod.

"Oh, I hope Link is alright…" Peach lamented.

"Zelda was taken away… There are two big bads to handle… What SHOULD I do?!" Link thought as more tears escaped his eyes.

"…aster…"suddenly, Link heard the voice of a woman, but it sounded robotic. "…Master Link…"

"Wait, where did that come from?" Link thought as his eyes widened.

"Master… Don't blame yourself." the same voice came again, and Link was able to find its source, but when he discovered it, he just couldn't believe it: that voice was coming from his Master Sword!

"Is my sword… talking?!" Link was surprised that no one else noticed that. Perhaps he was the only one who could listen to the voice?

"You have your friends by your side. Together, you can save this world." the voice said as Link carefully listened to it despite being absolutely dumbfounded that his sword was actually talking. "Please… Do not give up, Master…"

Upon hearing these words, Link turned around, seeing that his companions had looks of concern for him.

"Link, are you alright?" Yoshi asked.

"I'm fine…" Link replied. "Didn't you guys hear a voice?"

"What voice?" Toad tilted his head.

"I guess no one except for me heard it…" Link thought, his guesses from before confirmed right.

"Look, Link…" Navi spoke up. "Remember that you're not alone. You've got your new friends with you!"

"That's right." Mario nodded with a smile. "With our help, we can take down Ganondorf and Bowser easily."

"We are your strength, Link." Luigi added. "We're always by your side!"

"So what if Zelda got captured? We can save her!" Toad exclaimed.

"We came so far, Link. We can't give up now." Peach encouraged.

"Together until the end!" Yoshi chimed.

Link was touched by his new friends' encouraging words. That and combined with the words from the mysterious woman he heard really helped. He soon felt his confidence returning; he was ready to spring back into action again! He and his friends would infiltrate Ganondorf's castle, take down the two evil kings, and save Zelda and the entire kingdom of Hyrule.

"Thank you, everyone. All of you." he smiled before flashing a confident smirk and declaring, "Let us go to Ganondorf's castle and save Hyrule!"

"Yeah!" the rest exclaimed as they all exited the Temple of Time and made their way to Ganon's Castle.

Ganon's Castle is were once stood Hyrule Castle, built over its rubbles and ashes, spearing the darkened skies above the once vibrant Hyrule Kingdom. There was a large pool of lava under and around the floating castle, making it inaccessible at the moment.

"Oh my…" Peach whispered. "This is where Hyrule Castle was supposed to be, right?"

"Yeah, and now Ganondorf took over it and built his own castle…" Toad breathed.

"Well, anyways, let's go to the castle!" Link declared.

"Hold up, I'm detecting some sort of power from somewhere around here…" Navi mused as she flew around until she found the source, "Aha! Over there!"

"Where?"

"Follow me!"

The heroes followed Navi as she led them to a cave blocked with a boulder. Link blew it up with a bomb and they all went inside, which was revealed to be a Fairy Fountain. Link summons the Great Fairy, who hands him the Golden Gauntlets, which allows him to lift even heavier things more than just large blocks.

Upon exiting the Fountain, they immediately went towards the castle, only that they discovered that it was unreachable because there was a large gap between them and the castle.

"Um… what now?" Yoshi asked.

"Link, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Toad…can you hear me? It's Rauru, the Sage." suddenly, Rauru's voice echoed around them. "Heroes from Another World… Release the six Grand Stars you have in your possession. We six will gather their power to create a bridge to the castle where Ganondorf and Bowser dwells… The castle's keep, which is known as Ganon's Tower, is protected by six evil barriers. Bring down the six barriers, and save Princess Zelda!"

With that, the Mario cast took out all of the Grand Stars and rose them up into the air as they glowed. Eventually, a rain of colorful lights came in front of them as a rainbow bridge leading to the castle's entrance was created, leaving the heroes amazed. With their work done, the Grand Stars returned into their inventory.

"Alright, friends… Let's go!" Link exclaimed as they walked across the bridge, ready for what new challenges awaited them up ahead. "Hang on, Zelda… We're coming!" he thought.

Once they made it to the castle's foyer, they noticed that Rauru was right; the central tower was locked behind a wall of magic, which seems to be powered up by six barriers, each with a different color. The heroes looked around and saw five doors… but where's the sixth one?

"Strange… There's six barriers but only five doors…" Navi pondered. "Where could the last one be?"

"Hmm… I can see a large stone pillar far ahead." Yoshi pointed as they all walked up to it.

"Something tells me that I should be able to lift it…" Link breathed, looking at his Golden Gauntlets before walking up to the pillar and putting his hands underneath.

"Uh… Are you SURE you can do that?!" Luigi questioned.

"I… can…try…!" Link groaned. "Nnngh…!"

"I'd be amazed if he actually manages to lift THAT." Toad said.

"Nnnngh… GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Link yelled, lifting up the pillar and tossing it behind him, right at the wall of magic… and weirdly enough, it didn't make a single dent on it, but it did leave the Mario cast speechless.

"SWEET MOTHER OF-…" Toad yelled in surprise while the rest of the Mario cast jawdropped.

"Heh, I knew I could do it." Link chuckled as he dusted off his hands before turning around, only to see the Mario cast still looking shocked. "Hello? Guys?" he waved his hand in front of them until they blinked a few times to snap out of it.

"I never imagined I would say that, but DANG!" Luigi exclaimed.

"I know, right?!" Toad threw in.

"Alright, anyways…" Link quickly changes the subject. "Perhaps we can split up and each handle a room."

"Now that you said it, all of these doors have the symbol of each Sage above them." Navi informed. "Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit, and Light!"

"I'll take the Forest." Yoshi said.

"I'll take Spirit." Peach said.

"I'll do Shadow." Mario said.

"I'll handle Fire." Toad said.

"I'll take on Water." Luigi said.

"Then that leaves Light to me." Link said. "I'll give you some of my items in order to help you out more." besides from handing a few of the Mario cast an item, he also handed them each a Light Arrow, as he had a feeling they'll be needing it.

With that settled, the group split up and went to their respective doors.

With Yoshi…

Yoshi saw a few torches in a circle and one in a platform, so after he got rid of a Wolfos that popped out of nowhere, he absorbs a Power Flower to grant him the ability to shoot fire from his mouth. With this ability, he lit up all the torches, unlocking the door. Yoshi moved forward, getting five Silver Rupees with ease by just Flutter Jumping to each platform and also having to get rid of a Beamos by tossing an egg bomb at it, then got into the next room to see some sort of large sphere.

The green dinosaur knew this had to be destroyed, so he took out the Light Arrow Link had given to him and impaled the sphere, making it explode as an image of Saria appeared.

"The Forest Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up!" she exclaimed before Yoshi was teleported out.

With Toad…

"Okay, this place is actually hot…" Toad groaned, fanning himself to cool down after collecting the Silver Rupees throughout the use of mushroom springs he conjured and going into the next room, where he took out the Light Arrow and threw it at the sphere, destroying it as an image of Darunia appeared.

"The Fire Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up, Brother!" he exclaimed before Toad was teleported out.

With Luigi…

"Great, why did I even choose this one?!" he complained as he was shivering like crazy. Even that, he tries his hard to focus on the main task and not let the cold stop or distract him.

Luigi first took out two bottles and stocked some blue fire before dumping one of them on red ice blocking a door, and then he sneezed.

"This place is even colder than the Ice Cavern…!" Luigi shivered.

He went into the next room, and because he did not want to deal with a complicated block pushing puzzle because the cold was getting to him very quickly, he decided to take out a Super Acorn to transform into Flying Squirrel Luigi in order for him to simply glide his way to the platform. There, he thawed more red ice, revealing a rusted switch that he hit it with his hammer, eventually unlocking the door leading to the barrier's source.

Desperate to get out of this place quickly, Luigi went to the next room… while sneezing some more and it even ended up deactivating his Power-Up, and impaled the sphere with the Light Arrow, which then exploded as an image of Ruto appeared.

"The Water Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up!" she exclaimed before Luigi was teleported out.

With Mario…

"It's a good thing Link handed me the Lens of Truth. Otherwise, I don't know how I can handle this room." Mario spoke to himself as he was using the Lens to navigate through the invisible bridges. One of them led Mario to a rusted switch, in which he hammers it down to unlock the door at the far end.

On the next room, Mario takes out the Light Arrow and throws it at the sphere, causing it to explode as an image of Impa appeared.

"The Shadow Barrier is dispelled! Please save the princess!" she exclaimed before Mario was teleported out.

With Peach…

Peach first had to handle a Beamos, in which she disposed of easily by throwing a Bob-omb at it. With the room now cleared, she proceeded to collect the Silver Rupees, use a Bombchu to activate a switch, and find the correct sun to aim her light beam at to unlock the door.

Now that the door was unlocked, Peach went into the next room and destroyed the sphere with the Light Arrow as an image of Nabooru appeared.

"The Spirit Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up!" she exclaimed before Peach was teleported out.

With Link…

The Hero of Time's trial through this door mostly consisted of him defeating invisible enemies (and because he didn't have the Lens of Truth, he simply went for Din's Fire), playing Zelda's Lullaby to get a Small Key, collecting Silver Rupees while avoiding rolling boulders and going through a wall in order to reach the source of the Light Barrier.

There, Link fired a Light Arrow at the sphere to destroy it as an image of Rauru appeared.

"The Light Barrier is dispelled! Hurry!" he exclaimed before Link was teleported out.

Eventually, all of the heroes found themselves back at the foyer, where they watched all six barriers dispelling at the same time. Without the barriers, the wall of magic vanishes, allowing the heroes to progress.

Determination filled their faces, as they were nearing their final battle soon enough…

To be continued…

Yep, I even decided to sneak in Fi in this story since according to Skyward Sword, she's technically in a coma state but perhaps she can still temporarily talk to her Master even if she can't physically show up (this is even shown in Breath of the Wild). Also, now you know what is this Grand Star of Magic I've mentioned back a few chapters ago!

Just one more chapter and this story is done! Please review!