I wrote most of this chapter when I had a bunch of music playing. That's not unusual, but this time I was listening to music on Youtube, which means that a lot of the songs had videos that went with them-either the scene from the movie, or little clips of pictures from whatever it was from. I was continually distracted by Ponyo, FMA, Hank Green, How to Train your Dragon, August Rush, Avatar, The Rescuers Down Under, and Fantasia. Either I had to watch the pretty clips or sing along to them.

Ponyo Ponyo Ponyo sakana no ko!

Aah, distractions. How you keep me from writing. ^-^

Chapter 28: Fighting and Searching

Link slowly stood up, his fists clenched and his body shaking. He looked down at his shadow on the ground, just as flat and plain as it usually was. And on the back of his hand, the old triforce mark was once again visible. He could feel a steady flow of energy from it, and it gave him strength.

He slowly turned his head towards Shadow Zelda and Sheik, who were locked in battle. Shadow Zelda's bow seemed to have a sharp edge on it. She was wielding it like a sword. Sheik was using his own bow to block the hits, but he couldn't shoot at such close range.

Link unhooked his bow and pulled out an arrow. He drew back and let his magic pour through his fingers. The arrowhead began to glow until it was shining with the brightness of the sun. Link took careful aim.

"Sheik!" He shouted.

Sheik turned his head and saw Link. He flattened himself to the ground as Link released his light arrow.

Shadow Zelda fixed her blank stare on Link, but didn't move in time and the arrow struck her in the chest. Her body collapsed to the ground and melted into shadow.

Still shaking, Link looked around. Impa, Darunia, Nabooru, and the soldiers had managed to chase away or finish off most of the rest of the enemies down in the cavern. But on the field above them, they could still hear the battle raging.

Epona walked over to him. She seemed unscathed so far except for some shallow scratches on her legs and flanks. Link swung up into her saddle and waved to the rest of his friends, gesturing up the hill. They needed to go help the others. He urged Epona up the hill.

Link released a few of his arrows at airborne enemies, and then hooked his bow onto his back again. He drew his sword as the first enemy charged down towards him. A wolfos. It sprang into the air, directly at Link. He raised his shield, catching the wolfos in the face. At the same time he swung his sword up hitting its shaggy underbelly. More appeared from the field and started bounding in his direction.

Then two gold figures charged at them from the side. There was a large yellow fox with nine tails. Link recognized it as the Keaton from Termina. There was also a large golden wold with one red eye. It closed its jaws on one of the wolfos and twisted sharply.

Sheik sent several arrows into the wolfos pack. Navi had helped gather some of Sheik's spent arrows so that he wasn't in danger of running out of ammunition.

Epona finally emerged onto the field again. Link looked around, trying to assess the situation. There was so much activity around him that it was hard to tell how many of their allies were left. All around him, there were scuffles and duels. He didn't see many bodies of people from his side. For a moment, he felt heartened. Maybe all these monsters were pushovers. But then he saw Volvagia fly up, carrying a soldier away from the battlefield. So, the dragons were removing their injured comrades before they could be killed. How many were unable to fight anymore? Who had been killed?

Valoo was still flying overhead, sending burst of flame out occasionally. But he had to be careful since so many of their allies were mixed in with the enemies. Instead he struck out with his claws, tail, and teeth. Link noticed that there were arrows embedded in his wings. They must have hurt, but he was still flying. His scales seemed to protect the rest of him.

Midna's twilight bird swooped low, raking with his claws. Midna wielded a long spear which she used every time her bird dove.

The two dragons and the bird seemed to have cleared the sky of most of the flying monsters. But there seemed no end to the ground-based foes.

At that point, a familiar figure danced past : a child in a red and green outfit and a pointed hat. He was blowing a grassy horn. A swarm of strange puppet creatures followed him, converging on the nearest enemies. He paused for a moment in front of Link. He laughed and then continued past.

Link urged Epona forwards and he joined in the massive battle. Nabeen and Sheik had already joined in. It didn't take long for him to lose track of the two of them in the mad scuffle. Link saw a group of three strange animals. Two of them seemed to be defending the third. The figure on the ground was the huge blue winged bear. He was injured. The Kangaroo and the red crocodile were fending off enemies from either side. Link rushed to their aid, slashing down anything that strayed too close. He raised his sword to flag down Valoo. The dragon came and carried the bear to safety. He stayed by Ricky, the kangaroo and Dimitri, the crocodile, trusting his back to them. Dimitri's skin was like armor, but his attacks seemed restricted to biting. Ricky attacked with lightning-fast punches.

Eventually, he lost the two of them in the crowd. He continued to seek out allies, pairing up with them and helping them out of sticky spots. A hawk circled overhead, keeping its sharp eyes opened. It would fly in the faces of anyone that seemed a danger to Link. Several enemy archers were blinded by the hawk's talons. Navi kept a sharp lookout, shouting out warnings to Link.

Link's arms began to ache with the strain. He could feel that Epona wasn't quite as quick on her feet anymore. Everyone seemed tired. But he forced himself to keep going. Adrenaline made it easier. It kept the fatigue at bay.

He left a small group of Tokays – salamander/tadpole creatures – and ran into Nabeen again. She had lost her horse at some point. Her forearm was bleeding and a vivid bruise was spreading across her shoulder, but she was still fighting strong. The lack of a horse only gave her more chance to use her extreme agility. She was almost like an acrobat the way she twirled, dodged, and sprang around her enemies.

Suddenly Epona gave a scream and bucked, sending Link flying forwards out of the saddle. He automatically went into a roll, crashing into the legs of a stalfos and toppling it. He quickly turned and saw Epona with an arrow sunk deep in her hindquarters.

"Epona!" Link shouted, running to her side. "Hold still," he cried, taking hold of the arrow shaft and pulling it out. She snorted in pain, and kicked out reflexively. Luckily she missed Link's knee.

"Nabeen," Link cried, "Help me guard her! I'll try to get Valoo to come and bring her somewhere safe!"

Nabeen stared at him for a moment before nodding and moving to Epona's other side. Link held his sword at the ready, and then charged.

…

"Why did you have to bring him?" Vaati demanded, looking at the bird hat on Medli's head.

"He said he could help us," Medli said, cocking her head.

"We don't need his help," Vaati muttered.

"I doubt that," said the bird head, Ezlo. "You may know your way around this place, but you have less experience than I do."

"Hah," Vaati scoffed.

"Nayru! Nayru!" Ralph ashouted, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"Would you stop shouting?" Vaati snapped. "We don't want to attract attention. I'm the only one here who can actually fight." He gestured to Medli, Din, the two fairies, and the hat.

"I can fight," Ralph said indignantly. "I was trained in swordplay!"

"And you suck at it," Vaati said.

"I'll challenge you now and show you my skills!" Ralph exclaimed, drawing his rapier.

"We have a job to do," Din said, turning to them. "Save your quarrels until after we've released the prisoners.

"I just know that Ganon is using Nayru's powers," Ralph moaned. "That must be how he's messing with the flow of time! What has he done to her?"

"Can't you shut up?" Vaati growled.

Din held up her hand. "Hush. I hear something."

All of them stopped walking and stared at her.

She peered out from around the corner.

"I think someone's just through that doorway," she said softly.

"We'll check," Tatl said. She and Tael flew forwards, peered in through the open door, and flitted back.

"I can see Link in there!" Tael whispered excitedly.

"One of the Links," Tatl corrected. "He was unconscious."

"There was someone in there too," Tael continued. "A little man wearing green. He has two hats on for some reason. But he doesn't look dangerous."

"Let's go see then," Vaati said. "I doubt he'll be a match for us."