Chapter 22: Bad Decisions
The party descended down the lift and found themselves in a room with another assembly line and 7 more villagers. The villagers looked at the party but didn't make much of a fuss at the sight of them. They continued on their assembly line of ancient arrows and the party walked through a door to another corridor.
There was an aqueduct with water flowing on the sides of the room, as well as a few columns. They walked through the corridor for a little bit and then 5 Yiga appeared in front of them from behind the columns, and another 5 Yiga came out from behind the columns behind them. The party drew their weapons. Uten waved her spear and used the water on the side to form a square towards the 5 Yiga behind them. The square of water encapsulated the Yiga. Uten manipulated the water in a way that would push the 5 Yiga into the center, not allowing them to swim out of it. They drowned to death and then Uten let go of her water magic. She downed a green potion. Zhago pulled out his bow and knocked three ancient arrows. The 5 Yiga noticed his choice of arrows and tried to run away. Zhago pulled the bowstring and made the arrows fly right into three of the Yiga soldiers, causing them to completely vanish without a trace. The other 2 looked at this in horror but Poump took out his Clawshot. He pointed it right at one of the Yiga member's legs and dragged them towards him. He pulled out his Royal Broadsword and stabbed at the Yiga once he made it right in front of himself. The last Yiga hesitated to do anything for a moment. "You are monsters." He said. And then he teleported away.
"Us? Monsters?" Poump said to himself and the party.
"We aren't monsters. The Yiga are monsters." Zhago said.
"What happened to their bodies? The ones that you shot with the ancient arrows?" Uten said, sort of confused.
Zhago stood in thought for a bit. "Whatever those arrows did… they felt powerful."
"You completely wiped them out of existence, dude!" Poump said to Zhago. He thought about something terrifying. "What if we get shot with one of those?"
Zhago and Uten shuddered at the idea of being killed by an ancient arrow. Being not only killed instantly, but with no body left to bury, to be remembered. Zhago, however, was glad he was in possession of these arrows. For years he heard about what ancient arrows could do, and here he had a whole quiver full of them. Together they could be unstoppable. Arrows that could kill Guardians quickly and instantly kill any opposition. "That is why we will use these arrows. In order to kill any possible enemies that we will meet in the future."
"Don't you know how much power we have now?" Uten said.
"We have all the power we need." Zhago put his bow away and walked forward through the corridor. The image of the vanishing Yiga soldiers flashed in Poump's head 6 times a second. He was standing next to something that could do exactly that to himself. He had been desensitized to killing Yiga with a normal weapon, but this new ancient arrow crossed the line for his willingness to kill them, no matter how bad they might seem. They reached the end of the corridor and saw two doors. One to the left and one to the right. They went through the right door.
They entered the room and some bars popped up behind them, locking them inside of the room. They surveyed the room and saw an armored statue that was holding a ball and chain in both hands. It started to move at their presence. It started swinging the ball and chain and then the party drew their weapons. It threw the ball right at Poump, who rolled out of the way of the attack. He pulled out his Clawshot and aimed it at the armor, taking off a piece. Zhago and Uten attacked at it from behind. The statue swung the ball and chain behind itself hitting both of them in the process. Poump kept on pulling off the armor pieces with the clawshot until it revealed some sort of scaly skin underneath the armor. Zhago pulled out his bow, knocked an ancient arrow, and aimed it at the open skin. The ancient arrow hit the creature and made it disappear entirely. Not a trace of the armor left, but the Ball and Chain remained on the floor as the only thing left of the creature. A treasure chest materialized in the room. Poump opened it up and found a key. He scanned it with his Sheikah Slate. The Slate told him about how this key was able to unlock not only cell doors, but also a lift within the location.
"We will be able to reunite with Tipa with this." Poump said. "It can take us up the lift towards the level that Tipa is at. And we can also save the last Champion." The party walked through the door which unbarred itself and allowed them through.
They proceeded through the left door and found a cell room with a Rito inside of the cage. The Rito seemed to have white feathers. "Hey you three, let me out!" The Rito said from inside of the cage.
Zhago pulled out the Eye of Truth on the Rito. Not much changed except for the colors of a few feathers. He looked around all of the walls in the room with the Eye but saw nothing different at all. "Unlock him." Zhago said to Poump.
Poump unlocked the cage and allowed the Rito outside. "Ah, thank you!"
"Link is here, we will be able to take you to him." Poump said to the Rito. "You're safe now."
"Very well then!" The party escorted the Rito out of the room. They walked through the corridor with the dead Yiga inside of it.
"Let's put on some disguises so that way we won't get into more trouble." Poump put on a Yiga outfit over his own attire and the others also put on their own Yiga outfits. They walked back through the corridor with the Rito and made it back to the door that led to the other assembly line. One of the villagers took a notice of the disguised party escorting the Rito.
"Why are you escorting that Rito right now?" The villager asked.
Poump thought of something to say. "We are relocating his position in this dungeon."
"Oh, that makes sense." The villager went back to work on the assembly line. "Carry on."
Uten took offense to hearing someone tell him to 'Carry on', especially since she was disguised as someone who was in a higher power than a village slave. "What did you say to us?" Uten said.
The villager had a panicked look on his face. They pressed a button in complete stress and then two Guardian scouts popped out from the ceiling prepared to fight the party. Zhago shot an ancient arrow at one of their eyes and blew them up into pieces. Poump decided to pick up and throw the other Guardian Scout directly at the villagers. The Scout managed to hit 1 of the villagers down. "They're here to kill us! We must fight now!" The villagers all grabbed their weapons which consisted of a few sickles and pitchforks. They defensively approached the party with their weapons. Uten prepared her spear. One of the villagers pulled out a bow and grabbed one of the ancient arrows off of the assembly line. Uten saw this and pulled out her Mirror Shield. The villager aimed for Uten's feet and shot the arrow right at her. The ancient arrow hit her feet and then in a hot second, she vanished without a trace. Her Mirror Shield dropped to the ground.
"Uten!" Zhago screamed. He pulled out his sword and teleported to the villager with the bow and stabbed them dead. Poump brought out his Guardian Scout shield and blocked most of the villager's incoming attacks. Poump slashed at them from behind the shield, managing to cut one of them down. Zhago pulled out a bomb arrow and aimed it at the group of villagers huddled around Poump. He let the arrow go and the explosion killed them all. Poump's shield blocked the blast. Their dead bodies were on fire. All of the villagers were dead.
"What happened to Uten?" Poump said to Zhago.
Zhago went onto his knees. "She was killed by them." Zhago hit the floor with his fist. "Not now. Not here."
Poump looked around him and noticed the Rito wasn't nearby. "Great, and we also lost the Rito guy." Poump kicked at a weapon on the floor. "So much for these disguises." He took the disguise off, and so did Zhago.
The lift in the room came down to their level, and Link walked up to them. "Hi there-" Link stopped talking. His smile and his optimism went away at the sight before his eyes. He walked up to the dead bodies on the floor and fell to his knees. "Did you do this?" Link said with a stutter in his voice.
"I can explain…" Poump replied.
"DID YOU DO THIS?" Link screamed at Poump with tears going down his eyes. He looked at Zhago as well.
"Yes… we did." Poump said. "But they were enemies of Hyrule! They are working with the Yiga Clan!"
"THESE PEOPLE WERE MY NEIGHBORS." Link said to Poump. "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN JUST END THEIR LIVES LIKE THAT?!" Link closed his eyes. "These people… they were put in here as slaves, and you killed them…"
Poump thought to himself some more. "They asked for it, because they killed Uten."
Link looked at Poump. "They probably killed Uten because you chose to make this battle about yourselves!" Link sat down on the floor and then laid completely still. His shadow on the floor started to move and then materialized into a somewhat visible form. It was a faint transparent black, wearing Link's tunic and with red eyes. It looked at Poump and then pulled out a weapon that looked like the Master Sword except darker. This Dark Link started attacking Poump. The sword cut right through Poump's body. Even though it didn't leave any visible scratches on his body, Poump felt a sharp sensation travel through his insides. Zhago pulled out his own sword and tried to attack the Dark Link. The Dark Link parried Zhago's attack and pushed his sword right through Zhago's stomach, giving Zhago the sensation of being stabbed, but with no actual puncture wound. Poump and Zhago tried their best in attacking the Dark Link, but it seemed like their attacks did absolutely nothing to it. A thought crossed through Zhago's mind. He looked at Link and decided to try and chop his head off. An orange force field surrounded Link, keeping the attack from hitting him. Poump continued having difficulty with battling Dark Link. Poump thrust his sword forward and then the Dark Link hopped onto Poump's blade. The Dark Link looked behind himself at Zhago trying to kill his own body. Dark Link hopped off of the sword and sliced Zhago's neck, making Zhago feel like his own neck was going to fall off. The sensation of the pain that Dark Link caused started to overwhelm the two.
"AUGH!" Zhago said, feeling like his insides were going to explode.
"AUGH!" Poump fell to the floor feeling like a sharp blade actually stabbed him in the heart. Was the pain real? It really did feel like it, and the pain got worse and worse. Poump noticed something on Link's belt. He saw a fairy in a bottle attached to his waist. Poump crawled up to Link's waist and grabbed the fairy in the bottle. He crawled up to one of the dead bodies and let the fairy out. It hovered above the dead body and revived the villager back to life. Link's body started to flinch a little bit.
"GASP!" The villager felt the air come back into his lungs. He looked around himself. "What happened?" The villager noticed Link kneeling on the floor. "Link?" The villager looked at the other two. "Who are you two?"
The Dark Link looked at Poump and Zhago. A menacing voice came from it. "I will kill you later."
Poump felt the pain go away, and so did Zhago. "A lot just happened right now." Poump replied.
The villager looked around and saw the dead bodies around himself. He realized what just happened. He looked at Poump angrily. "These were my friends! And they were killed by a few Yiga assassins!" Link started to move again and got back up. "Link! Sort those two out for me, will ya?"
Link looked at the alive villager. "Nebb. You're alive." Link hugged the villager feeling his happiness come back just a little bit. Link turned around to look at Poump and Zhago. "You two, I am going to need to deal with you later. What you just did was not only against the law, but immoral. At the least of it, you will be put in a court session and hope to goodness that you won't be put in prison. At the worst of it, you will be executed for killing these villagers. I don't want you two to be executed. I kind of liked both of you before, but after this," Link's eyes started to get a faint glow of red in them. "I hope to see you suffer for what you did."
"We kinda already did suffer." Poump said, feeling his neck.
Link took a few deep breaths. He suppressed his dark thoughts. "Look here you two. I'll try the best I can to keep this between us and Nebb right here. Right Nebb?" Link looked at Nebb.
"Riiight…" Nebb said. "This will be between all of us…"
"Good. I hope to put you two on a fair trial, and I will ensure that you won't suffer the death penalty. You've done a lot for Hyrule in the past few weeks, so I will try to control this situation in the best way I can." Link looked around the room. "Where is Uten? I don't see her body."
"She was struck by an ancient arrow." Zhago said.
Link's eyes widened and his heart sank. "That is a real travesty." Link put his hand on Nebb's shoulder and looked at the dead villagers with him. "Yunobo the Goron Champion should be with us soon. Say, where is Teba?"
"He left us." Poump said. " He just walked out of the room without giving us a moment to see him."
"You guys are terrible at this." Link said to Poump and Zhago. The lift arrived at their level and Yunobo arrived.
"Hi guys. What do I need to do, goro?" Yunobo asked Link.
Link looked at Yunobo while putting his hand on Nebb's shoulder. "You will take Nebb here and these dead people with you. They need a proper burial. Take them to Hateno Village, with the other villagers as well."
"You got it boss." Yunobo walked up to the dead bodies and scooped them all up in his large Goron arms. "Eugh, this is something I didn't want to ever do in my life." Yunobo walked back to the lift with Nebb and Link joining them too.
Link spoke to the two before he went back up the lift. "I will clear out the path for them so they can make it to Hateno Village. The villagers will be out of here soon and I will be able to meet you guys later. Try not to die on me anymore." The lift took Link, Nebb, and Yunobo with the dead villagers up to the next level.
Poump and Zhago sat in silence in the room for a little bit, thinking about how much they lost today. They haven't seen Tipa in a while, and Uten just died in the most unceremonious way a few moments ago. Zhago looked at the ancient arrows in his quiver and vowed to only ever use them on Guardians from now on.
Uten awoke in a strange world that materialized before her. It looked like a harmonious but silent realm that she appeared in. An old man wearing a red outfit appeared before her. "Hello. My name is Rauru, and I am the Sage of the Sacred Realm. The place you are standing in right now is a place where all spirits go when they serve the Goddess." Uten looked around and saw a few other people appear before her. A Goron, a Gerudo, a Sheikah, a Small Forest Child, and a Zora who she recognized as Princess Ruto, the princess of the Zora tribe from a long time ago.
"W-wow. This is crazy." Uten said.
Rauru walked towards a pathway that started to form out of an abstract matter. "Walk with me, young Zora." Uten followed Rauru on the path. The sky seemed to be dark blue, although it didn't seem to be a sky of some sort, but rather a dimension of some kind that she was in. Rauru took her to an area that started to materialize itself to look like a part of Hyrule, with a Sheikah Tower protruding into the sky.
"You must climb the tower." Rauru said to Uten.
"How?" Uten asked.
"By climbing it." Rauru grew large wings and turned into an owl. The owl flew up to the top of the tower and spoke down to her. "Hoo-hoo, reach me you must."
"Well then." Uten started climbing the tower. With difficulty, she couldn't get a very good grip on the side of the tower. She saw that it had rungs placed on the surface of the wall that would allow her to climb easier. She carefully and methodically put her slippery Zora hands onto each rung. The tower very generously had several resting points at certain intervals of the wall's surface. Uten took the opportunity to rest at each resting point in order to regain her stamina. After a strenuous 27 minutes of climbing, Uten finally reached the top of the tower. She was panting heavily from the climb, and then Rauru the Owl hopped up to her.
"Well done." Rauru said to the exhausted Uten.
Uten wanted to make a quippy remark to the Owl, but she was way too out of breath to speak. Rauru flapped his wings and glided himself closer to the side of the tower.
"Do you see that light over there?" Rauru said to Uten, pointing at a blue light in the distance.
Uten regained her breath. "Yes, what about it?"
"If you wish to go back to the land of the living, you must make your way towards that light."
"I guess I need to glide over there?" Uten asked.
"You catch on quickly." Rauru walked off of the side of the tower and flew away. Uten walked towards the side of the tower and prepared her paraglider which materialized just at her thought of it. She looked down and saw nothing but an abyss. No sign of the floor or a landing place anywhere. Just the blue light in the distance. Uten walked to the center of the tower and then ran straight for the edge. She used the momentum and jumped right off with her paraglider in both hands. She glided across the abyss, and she couldn't help but look down into it. At first there was nothing, but then all of a sudden she started to make out a few pieces of Hyrule Field. She saw what looked like some monsters preparing their weapons. They were going face to face with a battalion of Hylian soldiers. The image then turned into Hyrule field, except the floor was covered in bones. Not only the bones of Hylians, but the bones of the monsters as well. A figure wearing black armor walked atop the bones and then looked up right at Uten. The figure in the dark armor seemed to make a noise that shook Uten to her core. The blue light got closer and closer and then became discernable. It appeared to be Impa, sitting inside of a large blue glowing cube.
"Hello, Uten. Friend of Zhago's. Savior of King Dorephan." Impa said from inside the cube. "We grant you passage to the land of the living for a very important purpose. The Goddess needs you. You have two options for regaining the ability to go to the land of the living. Either you return in your very own body at the place where you were born, with your own items in tow. Or you can return inside of another person's mind. You will possess their abilities and attributes, and you will also keep all of the knowledge that you have gained. You won't have your previously obtained items, however. What is it you wish for?"
Uten without a second thought made up her mind. "I'd like to return to the land of the living with my own body."
"Very well then. It is done." Impa pushed her hands forwards and then Uten fell backwards.
She felt like she was falling for a long time, but then she met with the pleasant surprise of water hitting her back. Her eyes adjusted and she found herself in the water of Lake Hylia, a Lake that was underneath the Bridge of Hylia. There was even a river nearby that led back to Zora's Domain. Uten swam around the lake getting a feel for herself in the living again. She felt really free, finally swimming in Lake Hylia again after some time, but then the image of the bones and the dark figure flashed in her head. She stopped swimming and just drifted aimlessly underwater. For all she knew, Poump and Zhago were still in Arbiter's Grounds, probably worried sick about her. She drifted in thought for a while, and then went back to swimming again.
Poump and Zhago were still reeling from what happened to Uten. They didn't know what to do with themselves. It had been just a minute since Link left through the lift. Poump got up. "We should keep on going."
Zhago reluctantly pulled himself up as well. "You are right Poump. We've come this far, and even without Uten, we can at least keep on pushing the fight forward." Zhago and Poump walked up to the lift in the room and waited for it to reach their level. They got onto it once it came to them and made it back up to the room with the door and the hallway. They walked back to the main room and noticed that the Sheikah tech arms were only working on one more shard of the mirror. They transported it upwards to the next level and then they stopped moving.
The two of them walked back into the main room and noticed that there was another lift in the area, besides the one they came from. Poump looked at the map on the wall of the tower and saw that there was one more level underneath them, with a suspicious looking image displayed in the center of it. "Let's go down there." Poump said.
"And possibly die?" Zhago replied.
"Link mentioned that there was a mysterious device down there. We should check it out."
"You can go down there. I will keep a watch on this level to make sure you aren't ambushed should you return."
"Don't worry, I will return." Poump replied. He walked towards the lift and saw that the lift required his key. He put the key into the machine next to it.
"Access granted." The machine said. The lift opened up and Poump walked into it. The lift went down and brought him to what looked like a room with large bones on the floor, as well as something covered in smoke. The lift stopped on the floor and then Poump walked off of it. He cautiously walked towards the smoke. The sound of something mechanical making noises was inside of the smoke. Poump looked at the bones, preparing for a fight if they started moving. The smoke cleared away and then he saw Ghirahim standing in front of whatever the strange device was.
"Surprise." Ghirahim said to Poump.
"Die!" Poump pulled out his sword and ran for Ghirahim. He swung his sword at Ghirahim and then Ghirahim caught the blade.
"You rats never learn." Ghirahim threw Poump's blade to the side and it landed in the sand and planted itself blade first into the floor. Poump tried punching Ghirahim but he also stopped Poump's punch in mid-air. "Fools!" Ghirahim twisted Poump's arm and threw him to the floor. "Hylia has created a land of fools! Fools who think they can just walk into any situation and come out of it just fine!"
Poump shuffled himself back up off of the sand. "What are you talking about, weirdo?"
Ghirahim looked at Poump with a look of menace in his eyes. "The reformation of this land. This world belongs to the monsters! Demise! Me!" Ghirahim snapped his fingers and then the large bones in the room started shaking.
"Of course." Poump said under his breath at the bones moving. Poump noticed the mysterious device was in plain view. It was spinning in place on some sort of mechanism.
Ghirahim saw Poump taking notice of the spinning device. "That artifact you see before you is known as the Spinner. It is the only way you can even have any hope of defeating Stallord."
Poump walked up to it while the bones were still shaking. He tried to reach for his sword but it sank into the sand, so he put on a pace towards the Spinner.
"Fool. If you remove that Spinner from its place, then the whole facility will go on lockdown. You will have no way of escaping here alive with your friend." Ghirahim said to Poump. "Your life, or your friend's life?"
Poump made it to the Spinner. It was spinning so fast, but Poump wanted to use it so badly. "Both of our lives." Poump replied. He hopped on top of the Spinner and then it spun right off of its spot. The lights in the room dimmed down and the small hum of electric power ceased to sound out across the room. The only sound in the room was shifting sand and the sound of the Spinner spinning across the floor. In a few short seconds, some torches on the sides of the wall started lighting up with flames, bringing light back to the room. Poump noticed the sand starting to sink in the middle, and the bones started rising high and formed into a large skeleton beast of some sort. Whatever was inside of it's eye hole started glowing red, and then the skeletal monster roared. Poump tried redirecting his Spinner back to the side of the room, but the sand caused him to sink down to where the giant beast was occupying. The spinner arrived at the spine of the skeletal monster and bummed into it. Poump then thought about trying to redirect the Spinner and then accidentally caused it to jump slightly, generating enough power to knock a piece of the skeletal monster's spine off. The hit even jolted the Spinner to the side of the room, which it attached immediately to some railing that was perforated onto the side of the rail. Poump liked this since it gave him a clear view of the beast in its entirety. Poump observed the beast some more and saw his shiny sword was planted onto its head.
Poump jolted the Spinner and it carried him swiftly to the skeleton's spine again, except this time a few skeletons rose out of the floor blocking his way to the spine. Poump maneuvered around them and made it to the spine and jolted the Spinner yet again, knocking another piece of its spine off, and sending him back to the railing on the side. The beast started generating a purple energy from inside of its mouth and shot it right at Poump. Poump brought out his Guardian Shield, which broke on impact with the blast. The skeleton prepared another blast but Poump decided to jolt the spinner down to the spine once again. More skeletons rose from the sand and Poump ran into a few of them. Surprisingly, they had enough durability to withstand the Spinner's hit, causing it to glide back to the railing on the side. The skeleton blasted again but Poump went for the spine again as well. He dodged past all of the skeletons that blocked his way and arrived at the spine, knocking off another part of it.
The whole giant skeleton monster collapsed into the sand and the sand levels started to even out. Poump got off of the Spinner, which stopped spinning as soon as he got off of it. He held it in his hands while he walked up towards the sword inside of the skeleton's head. The red glow disappeared from inside of it, and then Ghirahim appeared above it, slow clapping.
"Well done, well done. You remind me of the Hero. A fool stepping into an affair that is none of his concern." Ghirahim stopped clapping. "The world will become a playground for the monsters once again. And you won't be there to stop it!" Ghirahim teleported away.
"Ah man." Poump said. He walked around the room which still lit with fire exclusively. He noticed perforations on the wall that resembled the railing that the Spinner stuck itself to. The perforations traveled up to the next floor, or at least a secret entrance to the next floor it seemed. Poump got onto the Spinner and it spun right onto the perforations. The Spinner guided him up to the top of the room and to a door. He walked through it and found himself in the same area with Zhago, and apparently everything was fine, as the electricity in this room was still active. "What the, why is there still electricity?" Poump said, confused.
"What do you mean? There always was electricity in this facility." Zhago replied.
"Weird, because that Ghirahim guy told me this spinning device gave the whole building power, and the power went out down there." Poump showed Zhago the Spinner.
Zhago took a look at the Spinner. "Interesting that he would tell you that. Maybe he wanted to trick you."
"That might be the case."
"Well, the only way now is up. Let's go to that lift and finish this."
"Sounds like a plan." Poump and Zhago walked to the lift and put the key into the device.
"Access granted." The machine said. The two walked into the lift and it carried them upwards. The lift was taking them to the highest level of the building. Throughout all of the floors, they noticed that no one was in the facility anymore, besides the dead bodies of some of the Yiga they killed. The lift moved very slowly through its travel to the top. They made it back to the ground floor and then all of a sudden a Rito flew in front of the lift.
"Going somewhere?" The Rito said. He pulled out his bow and shot a few arrows into the lift. Poump and Zhago got down, but one of the arrows managed to hit Poump.
"Ow!" Poump said once the tip of the arrow hit him hard in the leg.
The Rito flew by again preparing another attack of arrows. Zhago pulled out his bomb arrows and missed the Rito, causing them to hit the wall, which brought the wall down, making it collapse. The lift shook a little bit. Zhago looked at Poump. "Fight for us." He teleported off of the lift and onto the Rito.
"AUGH!" The Rito exclaimed at the surprise of a heavy Sheikah body on his light bird body. The both of them were plummeting to the floor underneath them. "You'll kill both of us!"
"That's what I want." Zhago replied and lit up several bombs on himself, hugging onto the Rito.
"Noooo!" The Rito exclaimed at the sight of the bombs and then they blew both of them up. They both hit the floor really hard. Zhago opened his eyes with difficulty and looked at the Rito on the floor nearby, burning. "You… madlad. I knew you were strong… the moment I fought you at Rito Village..." The Rito stopped moving and roasted alive, it's feathers flying into the air in embers. Meanwhile, Zhago was also burning. He looked up at the lift escaping to the top floor, but it was blurry in his vision. He reached his hand up, but then it fell limp, and all he saw was blackness. After some time, he saw Her.
"Zhago. Is this how your story ends?" She said.
"Yes." Zhago replied. "This is how I die."
"A part of you lives in Hyrule. A part of us." She said.
"You mean… He is alive?" Zhago asked.
"Yes. He is. Take in his footsteps as He should've yours." She said.
"But, I want to join you." Zhago replied.
"Not now. Not here." She replied. "You will meet with Impa. Perhaps she can allow you a second chance in the same way He was given one."
"I will heed your advice, my love." Zhago said. She disappeared from his view and then all he saw was blackness.
"Zhago!" Poump screamed to the lower level. He lost Tipa, Uten, and now Zhago. Poump started losing his confidence, which was something that was very hard to happen to him. The lift made it to the level next to the top level and stopped. Link was there. Poump brought out his sword at Link. "Don't kill me." Poump said, shaken by the past few hours of his life.
Link looked understandably at Poump. "Put the sword down. You're safe." Link said with a soft voice.
"You will strike me down in anger with whatever that Shadow form of you is. That or you could be a Yiga in disguise." Poump said, with his sword shaking in his hand.
"Calm down, Poump." Link replied with a soft voice once again. "Take a few deep breaths. Use the Eye of Truth on me."
Poump shuffled through his pockets and aimed the Eye of Truth at Link. He appeared to be completely the same, no Yiga clothes. The only thing different was the faint out of sync movement of his dark self moving inside of himself. Poump put the Eye away but pointed his sword at him again. "Please don't kill me." Poump said again, his voice shaking.
"I'm not going to kill you." Link walked up to Poump and pushed the sword to the side. Poump let the sword fall and he started tearing up. "What happened to Zhago?" Link asked.
"He… didn't make it." Poump said with his voice shaking a lot. He could barely speak it out, but Link understood what he said. Link reached out both of his arms and embraced Poump.
"There there." Link said quietly to Poump. He patted Poump's head, putting him at ease. Poump didn't hug back for a while, but then he hugged him once he felt more comfortable. "I've lost many friends in combat before." Link said. "It's a feeling that I wish I had never felt before. No matter how many times it happens, I can never shake that feeling off of myself." They stood in silence for a while. Link put both of his hands on Poump's shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Look into my eyes, Poump." Poump looked at Link's eyes through tears. "What do you see?"
Poump didn't know what to say. "The eyes of a… Knight?"
Link shook his head. "While that is technically true, I am much more than a Knight. I am your friend, and I am here to help you, emotionally and physically."
"We can't face Ghirahim…" Poump said under his breath. "He's too strong."
"Not true!" Link replied. "Together, with our friendship combined, we can defeat Ghirahim. Without you, I wouldn't be in this building right now. Look at you. You are Poump. You defeated Aghanim, you watched over my daughter Hilda, you managed to deal with two of the monster colonies."
"But I did all of that with help from other people…" Poump said.
"Yes, but you were a part of those other people. You are the last surviving member from your group. You are strong, courageous, and brave." Link wiped a tear off of Poump's cheek. "Now show me that brave and confident Poump that I know and love."
Poump started to rub his eyes and felt better. He felt his confidence start to come back to him. "I won't disappoint you, Link."
"You haven't already. Now let's see who this Ghirahim guy is and give him a proper greeting. For all of our friends." Link and Poump walked onto the lift and ascended to the next level.
They reached the top level. The ceiling seemed to be a dome shape and they walked off of the lift. Ghirahim in his white slender splendor stood in the center of the room. Tipa seemed to be floating in mid-air as if she was being held by invisible cuffs around her arms. "How good of you two to join us! I see that the others have been consumed by my forces. A shame really, means I have less blood to clean off of my blade." Ghirahim materialized a rapier in his hand. "And you, Hero! It has been a long time since we have met!"
"I don't know you." Link replied to Ghirahim. He pulled out his Master Sword and his Hylian Shield. Poump also pulled his sword out.
"We've met before. A long long long time ago. You were a different person then, but you share his…" Ghirahim looked up and down Link's body. "Qualities." Ghirahim disappeared from Link's vision and appeared right behind rather uncomfortably and then he stuck his long tongue out next to Link's ear. "I want to eat you."
Link swung his sword behind himself and Ghirahim teleported away before it could hit him. "I'm into a lot of stuff, but that is not one of them." Link replied.
"Fine!" Ghirahim said with impatience. He touched Tipa's chin. "Demise's power is weak right now, but maybe we can finish you right now." Tipa's eyes glowed red.
"AUGGHH!" Tipa's scream turned from her light feminine Hylian Girl voice into the deep masculine voice of Malice. "Our power isn't strong enough! I need a better host!" Tipa said with her eyes glowing red and her voice filled with Malice.
"Hush, master!" Ghirahim replied. "We have two servants of the Goddess to murder!" Ghirahim snapped his fingers and Tipa fell to the floor. She got back up and couldn't feel her own emotions anymore. She pulled out both of her katanas. "Let the games begin!" Ghirahim and Tipa charged at Link and Poump. They clashed their blades into each other. Link clashing with Ghirahim, and Poump clashing with Tipa. They traded sword blows.
Eventually, Poump started getting overwhelmed by Tipa's double katana attacks, so he rolled away and brought out his Clawshot and tried grabbing one of Tipa's katanas. He managed to pull away one of the katanas but it felt really hot on his hands so he threw it to the side. Tipa now had one sword in her hands. Poump waited and then Tipa ran right at him. Poump parried an attack and sliced at Tipa, but noticed her skin seemed to form back as soon as he hit it.
As for Link, he was going blow for blow with Ghirahim. Ghirahim seemed to block almost every attack and seemed to be in the advantage, but then Link feinted for one of his sides and swung at the other side causing Ghirahim to fall back from the pain. "AGH!" Ghirahim said. "It seems she still has the upper hand after all these millenia."
"What do you mean she?" Link replied.
"Your sword." Ghirahim swung at him again with his sword.
Poump continued battling with Tipa, who seemed to be getting stronger and stronger by the second. Poump took Tipa's other katana off the ground and stabbed at her with both of his swords, causing the blades to sink right through her torso. "AUGHH!" Tipa said with her voice of Malice.
"Demise!" Ghirahim said with surprise.
"I told you, this body is not strong enough. She does not possess the Triforce of Power, or the body of Ganondorf." Tipa said with both of the swords inside of her. She pulled both of them out and her wounds healed up immediately. "We must meet again once I have the other body."
"Are you saying we should stop fighting?" Ghirahim said, as he struggled to keep Link's attacks from hitting him.
"Yes!" Tipa said with a deep voice. "We can deal with these people later."
"Fine then!" Ghirahim stopped fighting and teleported away from Link. "You will never be able to defeat my accomplice from the Twilight Realm!" He teleported away and then Tipa's eyes turned back to normal. She fell over.
Link caught Tipa from her fall and brought her back up. "Ghirahim wants us to meet whoever this accomplice of his is. We should see who they are and deal with them."
"I'll be by your side." Poump said.
"Meat." Tipa said.
The dome ceiling opened up, revealing the glass dome that overlooked the desert. The moon was looking inside, as it was night time. The center of the room opened up and a black mirror rose from it. A strange circular pattern lit up in it, with several circles with strange writing endorned on them. A dark figure walked from the center of the mirror closer and closer to the group. It arrived at the mirror's exit and as if there was nothing between it and the mirror, walked right through to the other side. The dark figure wore a strange otherworldly mask and black armor. It looked at all of the adventurers and then made a strange blood curdling noise. "I have finally arrived." The figure said with a deep voice.
"Who are you?" Link said, as he cautiously brought out his Master Sword.
"My name is Lord Veerus. As you know, I am an accomplice of Ghirahim's." Veerus looked through the glass dome. "So this is the land that Hylia created. And you three can prove to be quite a nuisance. I've heard much about the one wearing the Green Tunic."
"And you'll hear from me!" Poump ran straight for Veerus, but then Veerus pulled out a black weapon that appeared to be a sword with red lining surging through it.
"Poump! No!" Link screamed. He pulled out his bow and knocked an ice arrow onto it and aimed for Veerus. Just before Veerus was able to swipe at Poump, Link shot the ice arrow right at Veerus, freezing them completely. Poump tried to attack the frozen enemy but Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate and froze Poump mid-attack. Tipa decided to also go for the frozen enemy, but Link quickly put the Master Sword right next to her causing her to fall to the ground in pain. Link ran right up to Poump and took out his stone hammer and smacked at the frozen Poump with the hammer two times. After a few seconds, Poump went flying in the direction that link hit him in, and then the frozen enemy broke out of the ice.
"Quite impressive. I will make sure that won't happen again." Veerus pressed on something on their arm and then the armor started to grow small platelets that seemed to radiate heat. Veerus attacked Link with their sword but Link rolled out of the way of the attack and grabbed Poump in his arms. Link pulled out a bomb arrow and shot the glass dome open.
"We're gonna jump down there! To Vah Naboris!" Link said as he put Poump down. He ran right for the Master Sword and grabbed it off the floor. Tipa felt fine once it wasn't near her. Link stared right at Veerus and slashed his Master Sword into the air towards the foe. A slash of light cut through the air from the Master Sword's blade and hit Veerus' armor, causing it significant damage.
"No way…" Veerus said. "The legends are true… You have won for now, I cannot face the wielder of the Master Sword." Veerus aimed their arm up to the glass dome and shot a purple blast at the glass, causing the glass to shatter in its entirety. Link ran right for Poump and Tipa and then formed the Orange Force Field around them, ensuring they didn't get cut by the falling glass. A black portal appeared in the sky and Veerus looked back at the group. "A descendant of the Hero of Twilight, I see…" Veerus turned into small black squares and the squares all flew into the black portal above. Link, Poump, and Tipa saw Vah Naboris down the building. Link ran up to the lift and found out it was jammed.
"We're gonna need to jump." Link said. "Grab your gliders."
Poump and Tipa prepared their gliders and they all ran off of the building together and started gliding down to Vah Naboris. They landed on it. It seemed to just be a cream colored machine that didn't move at all, with no signs of movement. They walked inside to a room that seemed to be structured within a circle. "Alright, you have the Spinner, right Poump?" Link asked Poump.
"Here it is." Poump pulled out the Spinner.
"From what I remember, Zelda and I discovered this same type of Spinner appear from inside of Vah Ruta, the Divine Beast next to Zora's Domain. It was spinning on some sort of power function that allowed Vah Ruta to move."
"You mean this one?" Poump said as he pointed at a perforation in the floor that fit the Spinner's shape.
"That's right! Glad you know what it looks like, it's been a long time since I saw one." Link walked up to Poump holding the Spinner. "Alright, now gently put the Spinner into the hole and then rev it up."
Poump slammed the Spinner into the hole and got onto it. The Spinner started spinning and then all of a sudden the noise of power surged through Vah Naboris' insides. The room started moving. It appeared they were on a platform that was in the center of Vah Naboris' stomach, and the walls were slowly spinning around them.
"You got it working!" Link said with exclamation, and Tipa pumped her fists in victory.
Vah Naboris walked away from the Arbiter's Grounds across the moon-lit desert. A device that allowed a Sheikah Slate to be placed in it emerged from the floor. Link walked up to it and placed his Sheikah Slate inside of the hole. "Choose map location." The device said. Link pressed on an area to the West of their location.
"Next stop, the Leviathan Bones!" Link said.