Holyshitbiscuits, an update?! So quickly?! I'm even amazed at it. But then again, we are nearing the end - yes, yes we are. Only a few more chapters left... how much exactly... You know, I usually plan these things out so I give accurate estimations but I honestly have no idea this time around. Five maybe? I really don't know...

Oh yeah. Shit goes down this chapter.

Ganondorf was not happy. He had no reason to be happy, and all he could do at the moment was take it out on the papers on his desk since Zant still hadn't returned. All his plans were going down into the sewers. Years of planning and acting were all being destroyed!

First there was Quinn. That annoying little failure of a wizard who had managed to slow everything down… But he can't interfere anymore. He thought smugly. However that was the only thing that made him feel even remotely satisfied.

Six years previous he had thrown the beat Gohma into the Lost Woods, to spread darkness into the very roots of the Deku Tree itself. Perhaps it had been negligence on his part, for he hadn't checked on its progress until recently. All that he found was a thriving forest and the remains of his creature's slashed up young. Judging from how bright the forest was, it had been dead for a while… And there was still magical residue left. The star and another strong presence.

He snarled. That damned star! The Gerudo King began to wonder if it was really worth it to find him. So far, he'd proven to be more trouble than good. Sneaking into his own fortress in the desert and releasing the Time Spinner… Sealing that creature had been one of his most difficult endeavors and now it was gone before he could even use it! Worse even, Nabooru had let the star escape after that!

Tearing another paper angrily, he decided that this star had to be disposed of as soon as he made his wish.

And as if things couldn't get more difficult, Eugen – who had been his prime obstacle, after Quinn, in his effort to get the throne – had to go and tell everyone there was an heir to the throne! That was causing a world-class headache, and no one could ask the king about its validity because of his condition. Worst of all, Ganondorf knew it was true. He'd done some snooping around of his own and found out about the king's affair with a woman in the castle. He wasn't at all interested in whom the woman was, but more about the child who had the Triforce of Wisdom. He didn't doubt her existence for a moment. Fate had a way of assuring that the Triforce pieces were always passed on. But the fact that people knew she existed somewhere out there now was a big problem since people would want her to succeed her father. Well, half at least. Some would prefer someone with more experience in the subject, but he would still have the chance of being outvoted…

He stopped absently tearing the papers for a moment as he noticed the one he had picked up had writing on it. He gritted his teeth and tore it up with gusto. The Gerudo had already memorized every single word of that note.

Thinking he might have to resort to hostile takeover, he sent a carrier pigeon with a message to his monster entourage stationed outside of Castle Town, telling them to be prepared to take the city. The pigeon came back a few hours later, a very quick response since the monsters had an awkward time holding any kind of writing utensil. He was very surprised to see that the reply actually didn't come from his legion of monsters – the handwriting was much too neat. The unpleasant memory of the note with the pretty handwriting flooded his mind.

Greetings Lord Dragmire,

I am a member of the Order of Necromancers, traveling with my apprentice. I am aware you were most probably expecting a reply from your comrades, but unfortunately they are unable to at the moment. Due to a mishap on my incompetent apprentice's part, a disruption of the spiritual variety has occurred in your associates' camp. The spirits are proving to be quite difficult to deal with and seem to take joy in tormenting your associates. Soldiers, even in death they wish to fight…

But I've digressed.

I send my deepest apologies to you, Lord Dragmire. I don't believe your associates can do much until my apprentice and I have cleared the spirits from the area. I couldn't give you an accurate estimation, however, as to how long this would take.

Best wishes.

There was no name, and the necromancer had been smart in not supplying one. Ganondorf would've surely cursed his name a thousand times over if given the chance.

He wished Zant would hurry up with any information on her… as well as if he could find any of the whereabouts of the star! Time was truly running short now…

Being thrown out of his depressing mindset at the sound of a knock on his door, he impatiently snarled at the one who dared knock. The solider, whose voice he recognized as one of his own subordinates loyal to him rather than the king, informed him that there was someone who'd come to see him. The man apparently claimed he had information he wanted.

Clearing his desk of torn scraps of paper, he told the solider to bring him in.

Koume and Kotake had always raised Ganondorf with the saying that "first impressions are everything". If they truly were then the man in his office was a sad sight to behold.

The man entering his office looked to be older than dirt. He was skinny and small, practically wearing rags and putting most of his wait a knobbly cane that matched his knobbly knees. His hair was snow-white from age, matted and tangled in his beard and the mane attached to his head. The old man's wrinkled face was giving him a toothless grin and there was a glint in the watery black eyes.

"I 'ear ye been lookin for a slivertop, eh, Mister Lordyman?" The old raggedy man said.

Ganon tried to keep his composure. "And where would you have heard such a thing?" He asked.

In a kooky cackle, the old man said, "I hear from me sister's cousin's brother, 'oo knows a lady tha knows another lady 'oo be workin 'ear at th' castle, 'oo knows this feller 'oo works wit th' soldiers."

The Gerudo lost the man at "sister's cousin's brother". After all, wouldn't that make that person his cousin? Whatever the case, he possibly couldn't get any more bad news. He told the man to say his piece.

"I be livin' in th' slums, ye knows. Not much 'round there cept more ol' coots li' me. Bu there's this temple near where me sister's brother's cousin lives. I be comin' back from there one day and I pops in t' take a looksee. An' when I do I sees this young fella thar. Bit of a pretty boy wit 'is strange hair, and he was doin' some sparkly things wit 'is hands. Dit'n know wha t' make of it so I lets it go. Then I rember me gramma tellin' me stories as a babe 'bout magical people who do tha' kinda sparkly magics. "member her tellin' me tons a stories 'bout star bein's. So I comes 'ere to tells ya."

Sure that this was just the ramblings of an old man, he sent him off (and probably much more kindly than he should have). Nonetheless, he figured it wouldn't hurt to send someone or something there to check it out. The worst that would happen was there was no result, so his situation really couldn't get any worse.

"Vega, you really should stop fiddling with your magic like that." Zelda warned, glaring at the star who was sitting so laxy on a bench. Link sat just as lazily next to him. The two seemed to be having a game rock-paper-shears. "What if someone sees you?"

Link answered for the star. "Let him do what he wants. It's not like anyone comes here anyways."

"Thank you, Link." Vega said.

"No problem."

Zelda just looked from the blond to the silvertop. "When did you two get so friendly!?" Then she quickly turned to Link, "And don't go encouraging him! We really need to be careful! Your uncle told us to lay low, remember?"

"Oh I remember," Link said, "I just don't really care what he says."

"How can you say that?" Zelda asked. "Aside from him being a Sheikah Captain, he's your uncle!"

"And he's a lousy one." Commented the page.

"He's right, Ducky." Vega piped in. "I'm the one who needs to stay behind closed doors at the moment. Tall, dark and scary doesn't know the full monty and as long as he doesn't, you two are in the clear."

Frustrated the witch snarled, "Stop agreeing with each other!" I think I liked it better when they didn't like each other.

Vega smiled, "Oh are you jealous because Link and I are friends now?" Standing, he went and hugged the girl. "Don't worry I'm still your frie-oof!" The interruption was caused from Zelda punching him in the gut, causing the silvertop to keel over in pain. "That's going to bruise… crap… this hurts… Link, you shut up…" The page had been laughing at him.

"It better hurt!" Zelda snapped.

"Oh don't worry… it does…"

"It can't hurt that much," Link said in between chuckles. "She's only a girl after all."

"Only a girl?" Zelda repeated angrily. She had half a mind to turn him back into a wolf but Nabooru, who had overhead, went ahead and knocked Link over the head.

"And I suppose you're so much stronger since you're a man, right?" Nabooru sneered.

Link softly rubbed the bump forming on his head as he said rather haughtily, "Well of course! Honestly, I don't know how you Gerudo function properly."

Vega's pain suddenly seemed to disappear, though, as opportunity made itself very evident. Standing up straight, he ran in between Link and Nabooru before the Gerudo could yell at the page.

"Rather than just speaking of these things, why not a little sparring match? The winner gets bragging rights." Said the star. He felt Zelda's alarm but the witch said nothing.

"Tch, like I need to prove myself against a woman." Link said.

The Gerudo had originally been planning to decline as well, but hearing the page's response fired her up. "If you really are a big, strong man then a friendly sparring match shouldn't be a problem." She said, deciding to add, "But I can understand if you're scared."

That seemed to do it. Link glared up at her. "Scared of you? If you really want to lose so badly, fine then."

Jeering at each other all the way through to the courtyard, Link and Nabooru already planned strategies in their minds as to how they defeat each other. During that time, Zelda went up to Vega and demanded to know why he egged them on like that.

"Link's a good swordsman, Ducky, but Nabooru has more experience. Getting beat might teach the tosser a thing a two." He told her.

She couldn't help but be a little bit amazed at that. Something like that had never crossed her mind, because while she knew about swords Link obviously knew more about them than she did. It never crossed her mind to cross swords with him, especially since she didn't have a sword (save for the brief experience after Link found the Master Sword). And since there were so few, the idea of a swordswoman beating him never really occurred to her. Zelda couldn't help but smile a bit at this because as much as she liked, even loved, Link, he did need to tone down on his chauvinistic views.

Zelda and Vega watched as Nabooru unsheathed her scimitar while Link unsheathed the Master Sword. It was hard to tell who looked fiercer. After a short time of competitive staring, Nabooru was the first to get impatient and make the first move. Much more quickly than the last Gerudo Link had fought, Nabooru feinted and then moved behind him where she attempted to slash. His own footwork being pretty fancy, Link was able to block her blade with his own, even though there was a small struggle to do so. After that, blades clashed so fast that Zelda and Vega had difficulty catching up.

The display was awe-inspiring, at least to Zelda. She could only sense mild entertainment coming from Vega, but she was really amazed at what she saw. Blades flashing and slashing at each other in a sort of dance that took years of practice.

The dance was exhausting, though. Eventually, Link and Nabooru backed away from each other and just stopped, panting heavily. They had been going at it nonstop for a while, and neither showed any sign of backing down. Nabooru stared at her opponent, surprised that a boy so young could already pass for a master. She looked him up and down, trying to find some weakness. In her mind, she replayed some of his moves trying to see what flaws in style she could exploit. Then she noticed something behind the page. A shadow… She thought nothing of it, at first until she noticed there was nothing around to cause that shadow. Even more alarming was that it moved.

"Behind you!" She cried.

Link sneered. "I'm not falling fo-" From the shadow rose a black hand that threw the page aside.

Zelda screamed and Nabooru charged at it. Vega stepped in front of Zelda and told her to prepare some spells. The shadow hand knocked Nabooru aside like a rag and then came at the spellcasters. Both released fire spells at it, but the hand just sunk back into the floor and avoided them. But then the shadow disappeared from sight. Zelda and Vega stood back to back, looking around furtively for any sign of the hand.

It came from right under Vega and grabbed him, squeezing the star painfully. He screamed from the pressure, but it was muffled as the hand retreating back into darkness. The next time he saw any form of light, the hand had thrown him into a room. Standing, he took a look around. It was dark, but not so dark as what he had just been in. This place was also damp and felt very uninviting. He opened his senses to see if they could identify where he was. Vega immediately went down on all fours and became paralyzed from the massive amount of magical energy around him… fear probably was a big factor in it too.

Vega could sense him right behind from where he was, paralyzed and useless.

"It looks like that tip-off was right." Began Ganondorf, walking around to the front of the star. He got on one knee to get a better look at the shocked star, but all he could see was a mop of silver-white hair that seemed to penetrate the darkness. He grabbed the star's chin with a hand and forced him to make eye contact.

The star looked at him with mixed feelings of ultimate disdain and fear… and defiance.

The Gerudo King smirked. "You've caused me a lot of trouble… so try to imagine all the trouble I'll be giving you."

Can anyone guess what my favorite part of writing this chapter was? For those of you who can guess accurately... Um... I'll give you a cookie?