AN: Hello again. Sorry it took so long, I… have no excuse.
Responses: Will no longer be featured. I'm just going to start using the "reply" button for any review that needs to be responded to.
The next room was large and circular. The floor was beige coloured, and the walls were blue. A ring of spikes lined the walls in three rows: one at leg height, one at stomach height, and one at head height for an average adult. The center of the room was a dark circle with a gold triforce painted on. A giant mask sat there, it was bigger than Link if he lay on his side.
Link and Naito both readied their weapons, looking around carefully. There was a crunch sound, and the mask began to float up into the air in a cloud of dust. A single ghostly image descended from above and into the mask before they could fully make it out. Red orbs of light appeared in the eye holes of the mask, leering down at them. Transparent, ghostly tentacles burst out from the mask, plunging into the ground. The stone where they dug in began to tremble, and burst open in a spray of dust. Dirt was revealed below the stone, and bones unearthed themselves from these patches, traveling along the ghostly tentacles. They fused to the mask, and it rapidly began to build itself a misshapen body. A wolf-like skull now wore the mask, and an exposed humanoid rib cage and spine crept down into reptilian legs, made of mismatched bones. One arm was like an oversized human arm, complete with fingers made of more random bones, while the other had no hand. Instead it had a large bar of metal from below the ground fused on the end. It also had a tail which was made entirely of metal and stone, fused and twisted together. The creature stood at twenty feet, dominating the entire center of the room.
It lurched toward them and hissed at their faces, causing them both to wince. It leapt back and blew a plume of fire at them. Link dove right and Naito went left, and the fire scorched the ground they had been standing on. It spotted Link and lurched toward him; he noticed its movement was very awkward and clunky. It slammed its metal arm down at him, he stepped deftly to the right and it shattered the stone beside him. He charged forward and rolled between its legs, using a spin attack as he rose. His sword barely affected its skeletal legs, and with a flick of its tail it sent him spinning close to the spikes on the outside.
There was a crackle of fire from above. He looked up quickly to see a piece of cloth on the ceiling burning. It revealed a deep tunnel to the sky above, and let in a beam of light. He looked over at Naito, who shot another flaming arrow at another piece of cloth. The monster now saw him and began to charge awkwardly at him, raising its metal bar arm. Naito crouched and drew his mirror shield, kneeling in the beam of light and steadying the shield in front of him. The light gathered in it briefly before shining forth in a piercing beam. It shone into an eye socket of the skeletal beast, and it reeled back, flailing wildly.
Link took over here. He was back on his feet, and while the monster was enraged he darted forward. He hopped over the metal bar as it swung low, and landed further up its arm. From here he hopped to the skull, which was just big enough for him to stand on the cranium. He gave his sword a deft twirl and rammed it straight down, sinking to his knees as he did so. The monster shook, making no noise. A ghostly fog began to rise from the mask, slowly, as though it was trying to stay inside but was being pulled out by some unseen force. Link noticed the glowing spots in the eye sockets dimming, and realized the bones were being animated by a spirit, or something similar. He took a futile swing at the fog but his blade passed right through. The fog sunk back into the mask, and the monster's energy was renewed; it shook Link off with a quick flick of its head.
Link righted himself in midair and landed near Naito. He whispered a quick set of instructions to him before the monster breathed another jet of flame at them. They ran in opposite directions, Link was moving aimlessly but Naito made his way to a beam of light. He began to shine it at the creature like before, but it turned its back on him and the light shone uselessly on its spine.
"Damn it!" He and Link exclaimed simultaneously.
It was bearing down on Link now. Link backed up, watching the skeleton warily. He glanced over at Naito, and it came to him.
"Shine light at me!" he called, stopping and holding his mirror shield out. Naito didn't hesitate; a ray of light hit his shield and reflected up to the surprised creatures eyes. It flailed again, still eerily silent. Link darted in and leaped at its torso, grabbing at two ribs. He scrambled up from there to the skull, and threw his weight sideways to swing around on top of the skull. Once steady, he drove his sword down before it could shake him off.
Naito remained crouched in the beam of light, watching this happen. His shield was ready, and he was watching the mask as Link slid his sword into its head. As before, a ghostly vapour rose up, and he hit it with a beam of light as Link had instructed him. It began to solidify and take a vaguely human shape; more and more so the longer he held it in the light. Without warning, the eye sockets went totally dim and the entire mismatched skeleton collapsed into a heap. Link jumped off just in time, and the newly created figure did as well.
It was still a bit transparent, but solid enough. It was human shaped, draped in dark, tattered robes. It had no visible face. Link leaped at it and slashed downward through its head. It hissed, and he followed up with a stab, spun around and slashed again, and finished the combo with a spin attack. It flew back silently, and hit the spikes on the wall. It burst into a fog again, and flowed quickly back into the mask. The large heap of bones again rose off the floor, tossed its wolf-like head, and thrust its metal arm at Link. It caught him in the gut, throwing him back against the wall. He slammed into it right above the spikes, fell down and bounced off the dull side of the spikes and hit the ground hard. He didn't get back up.
"Hey! Freak! Look down here!" Naito cried from right in front of the beast.
It bent over and looked down at him, and caught an ice arrow in the eye. Ice built up in the miniscule space between the mask and face and expanded. The mask popped off and skidded to the other end of the room. The vapour exploded outward, forming a cloud all around the mask. Naito dove into a beam of light, aiming his shield as he did so. He landed hard on his side but barely noticed, and the light once again forced the spirit into a solid shape. He ran at it and dealt four vicious swings before it sunk back into the mask. The mask rose into the air and those ghostly tentacles pulled it over to the collapsed skeleton beast. It reattached, and the behemoth rose again.
Naito stepped toward it, tripped on a random rock, and stepped awkwardly on his right foot. He yelped in pain, tumbling backward onto the ground. The creature took one step toward him, threw its head up and fire began to spew from its muzzle. It tossed its head and looked down at Naito. The jet of hot flame surged forward…
And into Link's mirror shield. He had hopped Naito's fallen form with ease and raised his shield against the fire. It billowed outward as it hit it, and was then sucked back into the shield. The back of the shield began to flash bright red and make an odd chiming noise. It blinked faster and faster until it was a solid glow and the chime became a constant tone, and the stream of fire was reversed. It engulfed the creature in a giant fireball, and it stumbled back. It fell against the wall and the bones shattered, throwing flaming bits everywhere. The ghostly vapour streamed straight up, emitting a loud hissing noise.
Naito was back up. He stumbled to another beam of light, and directed it up at the fog. Even as it took a solid form it burst into flame, hissing still. It began to dissolve, just vanishing into the beam of light focused on it. Eventually nothing remained, and Naito put his shield away.
Link put away his shield as well. He then paused, and switched it for his Hylian Shield. He felt more comfortable with that. He looked over at the pile of bones, which was turning to dust. The shattered bits of stone on the floor began to slide back into place, once again flawlessly covering the dirt below. The gold triforce painted in the center began to glow, and a column of blue light stretched from the edges of the blue circle around it to the ceiling. When the light faded, a small pedestal with the triforce carved into it was sitting in the middle.
The door behind them opened on its own. Medli was sitting on the floor outside, but as soon as it opened she hopped to her feet. Naito beckoned her in, and she entered cautiously.
"It's all right. We have it under control." Naito assured her with a confident smile.
She walked past him to the pedestal without a word. She stared at it and nodded slowly. Naito walked over and joined her, followed by Link. Naito drew the Master Sword slowly, spun it so the point was facing down, and raised it as high as he could. He sunk to one knee and brought it down, striking the pedestal dead on. It sunk into the white stone easily, halfway up the blade. It glowed blue briefly, but otherwise nothing happened.
Naito looked up and saw Medli with her harp and Link with his ocarina at the ready. Comprehension dawned on his face, and he reached into his pocket for the Wind Waker. He took a second to remember the Earth God's Lyric, and began to wave the baton fluidly. Medli began playing at once, and Link came in at his cue. In a triangle they stood around the sword, and the song echoed throughout the chamber, and the sword began to stir.
It began to glow blue, and a column of light enveloped it again, although it was much thinner this time. It faded as the song ended, and the sword looked as it did before. They put away their instruments and Naito stepped up to the sword. He gave a quick tug and it came free in his hands with another brief blue pulse. He raised it up above his head, and it vibrated in his hands. There was a loud cracking sound and the cross guard shot out in a cloud of dust, creating the familiar eagle wing design. A small triforce carving on the blade revealed itself, and the blade took on a new gleam. Link looked it up and down, noting only two things that were not yet correct. The gold, diamond shaped stone inlaid where the blade met the hilt was still dark, and the blade, while shiny, didn't have that odd glow… but then, there was still the next temple.
"I guess this is it. I shall remain here, and protect the power of the sword for the remainder of your quest. For now, I will send you back to the world above." Medli told them.
"You did well. Thank you for your help." Link said with a nod.
"No, thank you. You are the ones stopping Ganon, I am only helping where I can. Good bye…" She said, flicking her hand at them. A fierce wind began to blow around them, spiraling inward and picking them up. The last thing they saw before the room faded to white was Medli standing and waving from her position by the pedestal.
AN: Okay, so... please review.