Chapter Nine
A secret, A Great Fairy and The Oocoo Factory
Colin of Skyloft sat at his desk and looked at Skyward Link in the mirror. In place of Link, Zelph and Zane were three coloured orbs, one blue, one red, one green.
"I did what you asked but you never told me why" Skyward Link said
"They want to rule the Surface, mum and dad, but they can't do it alone. They're aim was to get hold of the Phantom Hourglass and then use it to capture the three Godesses, the Godess they say was incarnated as Zelda, the Head Master' daughter" Skyward Colin wept, "I couldn't let them do that, what makes them think they could even withstand the power of the Godesses, it's not like they wouldn't be able to realise they were being tricked once called"
"Called by a Knight?" Skyward Link asked
"Zelda' knight...I told mum and dad it was that of the King' so now you see" Colin said, then turning to look at Skyward Link he added, "No one in my family must be aloud to become a Knight to Zelda or any King thereafter, not now everyone else knows about the Surface. It won't be long before this whole island comes crashing down too...hide me Link"
Link' heart was pounding as Colin faded away and Skyward Link turned to look at him,
"I didn't know...I didn't believe any of this back then" Link told Skyward Link
"Like the Godess' spirit living within Zelda so too has the Spirit of the real Sheika Leader ridden through time, waiting for her moment to steal the Phantom Hourglass, Bathilda' want to kill Zelda to rid her and her family of the curse Ganondolf placed was just what she needed, a human male too, she never left that realm but the minions did. Colin' father was left to raise Colin until she could get out of the twilight, one of them had to succeed. Colin couldn't live in twilight so the twilight banished him to Earth, if she could use the hourglass to capture the souls of the three Godesses that created Hyrule, it'd be the grandest of revenge plots would it not?" Skyward Link told him,
"I feel like I would have helped Colin still, even if I had known, I'd never damn someone for something a relative had done...the waiter at the hotel, he was Shanklin' son, he went up against his own father twice" Link said, "What do we do now?"
"You need to rescue the Oocoos. It's not just their Princess that's been captured, the others were locked up all over their Factory" Zane told Link,
"We have to find the next Great Fairy too" Zelph reminded them
Skyward Link remained out of the sword for a while in order to get Link and Zelph to reach the Great Fairy statue, at the highest point of the island,
He didn't need to worry about Zane, Zane could fly on ahead at Navi size,
"I'll see if I can find the Factory while you're doing that" Zane said,
Link and Zelph were fine with this, what they weren't fine with though was having to use the now uneven slope up to the cave behind the waterfall, which was dangerous when the wind blew,
"Don't worry!" Skyward Link called
"Easy for you to say you're a memory" Zelph called back
"If you fall the Loftwings will catch you" Skyward Link replied
As it turned out this wasn't required, there was a break enough in the wind to allow them safe passage to the cave behind the waterfall.
Within the cave Link had to fight off Chu Chu'sand bats while Skyward Link had to fight off memories of Chu Chu's and bats. Only now did he wish he was back in the sword.
Onwards and upwards they went, though some parts of the cave had collapsed in so Link used the bombs to clear it, which in all fairness could have gone quite badly.
Thankfully for them it didn't and they were able to continue.
Out on this ledge that appeared to be narrower than in the game Link had to cofront his very recent fear of heights, thanks to Aeolius, and he stood with his back and his hands to the wall, which sloped and added to his fear of falling,
"How much further?" Link asked teary eyed
"It's just up ahead...hey have you still got your hookshot? You're going to need it" Skyward Link called,
As they turned a corner Link and Zelph found there to be a huge gap between them and the next ledge.
Skyward Link pointed out the vines on the bottom of the ledge above before using his clawshot to hook it, swing across, jump and roll,
Link had Zelph got a firm grip on him and used the hookshot to grapple the vines above and get them safely across to the other side.
Once again they climbed, round and round, up and over the cubby where Skyward Link' Loftwing had once been held by Groose, and then around once more until they found a place for the mini statue on the floor but the statue housing the Great Fairy didn't appear here, instead it rose from out of a pool on a pillar in the centre of the pool at the botom of the waterfall,
Skyward Link glided across,
Link and Zelph did the same with their newly mended Korok leaf and into the statue housing the Great Fairy they went.
There were many curved steps going down to the pool where this Great Fairy lived and with each careful step down he was dreading that high pitched screech more and more.
After five long minutes they came upon the next Great Fairy, Link played Zelda' theme and out she jumped with a cry of witch like laughter,
"Welcome Link" She said blowing him a kiss that made him recoil, "Allow me to bestow onto you this power...the Time Gem, if being pursude by an enemy you can alter time in a small space to make them come unstuck, this may also help you at the Factory you must go to now, if battle finds you weary come back and see me"
With the yellow gem in his hand she laughed and disappeared back into her pool.
Link looked at the steps he and Zelph now had to climb back up. Skyward Link had stayed outside, for this portion if the quest did not involve him,
"Why can't there be a port out of here?" Link asked
As if by magic a light appeared at the bottom of the steps and as Link and Zelph stepped into it they both found themselves suddenly weightless and floating upwards.
Not a miute later and they shot out of the head of the statue and floated down to the ledge, where Skyward Link and Zane were waiting for them,
"I've found it" Zane said
Once they were back on the ground Zane and Skyward Link found a safe route for Link and Zelph to follow, across to the other side of the floating city where they came to a broken bird statue with two red stones in the eyes, next to it, on the ledge was a blue Loftwing with a golden beak,
"The factory is what became of the temple that housed the Triforce" Zane said, "Which is now over there" He added, pointing out a square shaped building with several towers attached,
"Zelda' loft wing will take you there" Skyward Link told Link, "Once you've left I'll go back to the sword"
Link nodded and then looked at Zelph,
They both mounted the Loftwing and looked at Zane,
"You staying?" Link asked him
Zane nodded.
Link could sense something was amiss but trusted his friend no end and so meerly nodded and flew the Loftwing the short distance across to the Oocoo Factory.
Skyward Link looked at Zane,
"Only he has the strength to end this" Skyward Link said
"I know but Colin needs a friend"
With that, as Skyward Link went back to the sword Zane used the ring to find Colin and disappeared into it.
The Loftwing landed on a ledge outside the front entrance to the factory, they could see, as the Loftwing flew off again they'd need to reverse time for the entrance was blocked by stones far too heavy for Link, even with the Goron bracelette,
Link took out the gem and trianed the light that came from it at their direct path, then with the rubble clear, the creepy Oocoo chirping that sounded like eerie music they advanced forward,
"Wait Link, we need to be sure of our footing before we go any further" Zelph said,
"Yep" Link gulped and with that they backed up and took the gem out of range, the ground was breaking away in places as it did in the game, "Good call Zelda"
"You're the only one I'll take that from" Zelph said,
"Do you know how many people call me Zelda?" Link asked her, then as she laughed he shook his head, "Never mind...now we know the parts of the floor we can't step on, we can use that knowledge and the gem to get across to the other corner over there and that door"
The door to which he referred was at a diagonal, there weren't any places he could use his hookshot but there were pipes,
Link knew therewould have to be a movable platform there for,
He had Zelph held the gem up for him so he could find the movable platform. Right now it was all the way across the other side of the room so he used the boomerang to move the fans in the centre of it, a whirlwind would have been too powerful,
He moved the first platform to the right until it was centre to them, he then targeted the platform behind this one and used the whirlwind tune to make it slam into the platform they needed and move it for them.
Link and Zelph stepped aboard, placed the gem in a handy slot and realised there were two red metal wheels on either side of the pillar at the centre of the platform, if you moved one left and one right the propellers at the top rotated and moved the plaform one way, if you reversed this the reverse would happen yet if Zelph and Link moved the wheel the same way they'd stop dead.
They worked together to get to the end of the room,
"Rotate to the left to change direction" Link read aloud the sign on the platform,
Link shivered,
"What?" Zelph asked as they worked together to move the pillar,
"We can see this because of the gem, to the untrained eye...?" Link began
"Don't say it" Zelph pleaded
"We're suspended in mid air, one slip of that gem and we fall to our deaths...do fairies work in this world like they do in games?" Link continued
"He said it" Zelph groaned,
They reached the platform they needed to be on, but Link was astonished to realise that what he thought was a door was actually a lock for the door on the other side of the room.
They also realised that behind the wall this lock was in came the sound of frightened Oocoos.
"Don't blast that wall yet!" Zelph cried, "Unlock the door on the other side first and then remove the gem and blast the wall"
"Doesn't matter that lock is in the past" Link said
"Link, in appearance it's in the past...think about it, what does that gem allow us to do?"
"It allows us to delve deeper into the factory...oh, I get it, it only looks new. Oh damn it Zelda now I'm freaking out again" Link said
He took at look at the lock and realised what he had to do, he placed the blade of his sword into it and turned it to the right,
The door across the room on the far right opened for them,
Now link could remove the gem and blast the wall to release some Oocoos,
"Thank you! Very much obliged, now must save Mumma!" The eldest of the group said, "If you need to leave for supplies give me a shout and my son will take you outside, I'll stay in whatever room you wish to leave so you can just go right back to it when you want to" And with that he just hopped into Link' satchel.
With some effort Link and Zelph made their way across to the only door available to them and ventured into the next room.
Here they found what looked to them like an empty swimming pool,
There were broken conveyor belts at two points of the room and four spaces for four orbs North, East, South and West, two high up and two low down.
Suspended from the ceiling were more Oocoos in a cage.
Link and Zelph edged their way around the empty pool to just above the first conveyor, that tilted down from high up one end of the room to just above their heads. Holding out the gem they saw a switch that needed to be activated at the highest end and with some effort they clambered up onto the now fully functioning conveyor belt and carefully made their way up to the top and the switch.
Link activated this with his sword, unsure of what it was they were actually supposed to be doing.
Bronze and silver mechanial parts started to make their way down the conveyor and Link and Zelph had to step over these so not to end up in the spiked wheel turning at the bottom.
"Link?" Zelph said with increasing alarm,
"Wait!" Link said after seeing a green glow,
Out on the conveyor appeared an orb, Link deactivated the conveyor and grinned at Zelph as he picked it up,
They worked their way back down to the bottom and left the orb on the edge of the pool which was now full but only in one part, it was very strange,
"Oh I've seen this happen in Japan" Link said
"You have?" Zelph asked in surprise,
"If there's an Earthquake sometimes it can actually part the sea two ways" Link told her, "I saw it from the air, we had to fly round in circles for one hour, we were lucky not to run out of fuel"
"Well I'll be, you learn something new every day" Zelph said
Link now activated the switch at the bottom of the conveyor and stepped over the mechanical parts that reversed until the next orb appeared.
Zelph picked this one up and lowered it after Link deactivated the conveyor again and they used the gem to reach the second, which was higher up and trickier to climb.
Once there they repeated their last action twice more only this time when they had the orb they placed it on the conveyor below.
Once they had all the orbs Link and Zelph used their satchels to house the orbs and grooves in the walls to place them into the right spaces for the orbs. Each space and orb had a unique image.
Once all the orbs were in place the Oocoos were released. As they could fly Link didn't need to do anything else and after many thanks he and Zelph returned to the main room.
The next switch to be activated was at the opposite end of the main room, to where they started. They used the platforms to get to it and then realised the next room was above them, now they had to use the switches either side of the central one for the door to alter where platforms would go.
They had to work together and turn the switches at the same moment in order to make the platform move up,
This moved round like a wheel and Link and Zelph had to time stepping onto it just right then move the wheels to make sure they were above the ledge with the next door on it. As Link and Zelph ventured into the next room the platform went round again, slammed into the ledge and broke it.
This next room was a large cylinder with the bottom completely out, there were ledges all the way up at various points and rings and all around them on the only place to stand on their level were ropes,
Link and Zelph looked up and could see a bubble with Oocoo' trapped inside,
"We have to build them a web to fall into" Link said, he picked up the first rope, which had hooks at either end, red in colour. It was very heavy, "Zelph, you keep a hold of the other end or hook it into that ring by the door so it does't go flying" He added,
Zelph dragged the other end of the rope Link was holding and hooked it onto the ring by the door. Link then used the hookshot after attaching himself to the rope and shot across the room to a ledge above. He unclipped his end of the rope and attached it to the ring.
Link used the Korok leaf to get back down to Zelph, unclipped the other end of the rope from the ring by the door, hooked it to himself then used the hookshot to get to another ledge, up at an angle.
On and on he had to do this until he had a tight enough web of ropes, however the more ropes he used the more places he lost for the hookshot and he had to climb through the ropes for the last few and pray they took his weight and the weight of the rope he was dragging up at odd angles with him.
He then had Zelph climb the net to the top and join him where the door to the next room was before using an arrow to cut the string so the bubble fell and popped on the net, releasing the Oocoo.
"Why didn't you pierce the bubble?" Zelph asked
"I might have hit an Oocoo" Link said, "They're starting to grow on me now" He added, nudging his head at the satchel he knew the Oocoo was sitting,
Zelph shook her head,
"They called the Princess Mumma" Zelph said
"Maybe she is their Mumma" Link said before venturing through the next door,
Zelph quickly followed before the door could shut on her.
Here they had a problem, there were trees growing out of free floating tiles and this didn't change in appearance at all even with the time gem. There were also two birds flying in and out and dive bombing them.
Link and Zelph chose different trees to climb so they could get a better look,
The bird' weak points were on their heads, so while Zelph used arrows on one Link used stasis on the other, before jumping onto it and slicing the Triforce into it's back.
As both birds blew up into purple smoke Link quickly dived back into the tree.
Link and Zelph then climbed the remaining branches of the taller trees to get to a ledge atop of the room. These trees did have leaves to start but the birds had set them on fire to stop Link and Zelph making progress.
The branches were hot to touch and singed their clothes in places but they made it...just.
Here Link and Zelph were captured by a giant Cuccu and carried off up to the top of the tallest tower in the factory,
"Well I think we know what happens if you hit a Cuccu enough times in this realm!" Link cried out.
Waiting for Link and Zelph was Bathilda,
The giant Cuccu droped Link and Zelph unceramoniously in a nest that then toppled with them in it, landing them at Bathilda' feet,
"This is where the line stops Link, this is where you die" She taunted as he tried to stand, "Don't get up" she added, then standing on his back she said, "No really, don't"
Link managed to get a jelly heart then overpowered Bathilda, much to her rage,
"Don't get up" Link said, sword outstretched, "No really, don't"
"You're not going to defeat me" Bathilda said with a dangerous tone,
"You have no power without the Phantom Hour Glass and Colin' family have their own agenda, they're not just going to let you take it and control the spirits you steal with the Godesses vacant from it to raise Ganon from his seal and even if you did the Great Fairies aren't dormant anymore, they'll be waiting for you. Zelda' blood won't end that curse, the only one, who could do that is Gandondolf, the one, who cursed you and he'd have to be a Garudo still. You're never going to be able to go that far back, not even I can go that far back. Now what have you done to Mumma Oocoo?"
"Link, look, this is the factory" Zelph called, having just seen a puzzle on the wall, "Depending on the layout of the building inside aids her escape or hinders it"
With Link distracted Bathilda was able to get up but Link used his senses and the fight between them started in earnest. While Zelph tried to solve the puzzle to help free the Mumma Oocoo Bathilda started using her powers to summon twilight creatures and throw posionous moss at Link, which Link shot back with his sheild,
The Sheild was soon damaged to seemingly beyond repair and he took it off and used a roof tile to do the job instead.
To Link' surprise and Bathilda' the shield repaired itself, just as the welder had promissed and with Bathilda distracted Link was finally able to get some hits in with the sword.
As Zelph freed the Oocoo Link completed the Triforce symbol, forcing her to her knees.
Before Bathilda could utter a word all the Oocoo' including Mumma swarmed, picked up Bathilda and carrried her off into the distance.
Link caught his breath then got knocked to the ground when Zelph jumped him for a hug,
"We did it!" She screeched,
Link just laughed his iconic laugh,
"It's not over yet" Link said, peeling Zelph off him and standing up, "Now we have to deal with Colin' father"
There was a nasty surprise waiting for Link and Zelph when they returned to Skyloft ruins. The warp ring on the ground and a note,
"Colin needed a friend...I'm sorry Link"
Tears filled Link' eyes