With the Master Sword in hand and the skull hammer within easy reach, Link pushed open the huge wooden door. Rather than charge in the room, Link cautiously peered around the spacious chamber.
Link was on the very top floor of the fortress. There was no ceiling; looking up, Link could see the clear night sky. There were long spiraling walkways hugging the walls. It led up to the very top. Lit torches were attached on the walls of the walkways every few meters. Not a sound could be heard.
Warily, Link tiptoed in, looking nervously around the room. He was prepared for anything.
When nothing happened, Link breathed in relief and allowed himself a small smile before journeying on to the wooden cell.
Aryll was in there. It was all Link's could do not to bolt up there, but he knew he still had to remain quiet, lest they get caught. That would be the end of the rescue mission.
She gasped when she saw him. "Big brother!" She cried. The other two girls imprisoned with her also turned around and stared at the boy. He recognized the rag-clothed one as the daughter of that annoying hobo who would always hobble after him in Windfall Island, begging for him to rescue his daughter. Only the seagulls, no doubt attracted to the cell by Aryll, paid no attention to the visitor. Link beamed at her but raised a finger to his lips. She understood and tried to express her joy more quietly.
"You're okay," she breathed. "I was so worried." Link frowned at the cage. How was he supposed to bail them out? The wooden bars were too thick to chop down. The skull hammer and his bombs was cause too much commotion.
Futilely, he tried twisting and pulling on the doorknob. He figured he looked stupid, but he really didn't care. Until he heard a familiar voice call out, "How silly. Don't you know the cell won't open that easily?"
He whipped around and nearly jumped in shock. Somehow, in front of him was Tetra and her two lackeys! She was smirking like usual, but Link was starting to despair that his sister might be locked up forever. It looked like a cruel sneer to him.
He glared at her in undisguised frustration. She acted as if she didn't notice and continued on. "There you go again, acting before you think. What have I said about using your head?"
She flicked her hand toward the cell, and her henchmen began making their way toward it. She smiled at Link as if she thought she was doing a noble act, which perhaps she was, but Link could barely see straight and saw it as a taunt.
"Really! Do you even realize that we had to distract that monster bird for you? It was going to come flying in here again!" She informed him.
By now, Link turned his back her, totally ignoring her. He was much more interested with the pirates' attempt at opening the cell door. Unfortunately, not much progress was made.
Tetra shut up. Link's anger cooled, so he decided to face her again. To his surprise, Tetra was staring at him, eyes wide and mouth agape. "That sword..." She seemed to be muttering to herself.
"Where did you get that?!" She demanded loudly. Link decided not to answer that. Then to herself again, she mused, "Is he...is it possible...?" She put her hands back on her hips in defeat. "How could it be?"
She spoke out loud again. "We'll, never mind that. We'll take these girls for now. I'm certain that their fathers at Windfall will pay a handsome reward for their safe return." The two pirates slung the struggling girls over their shoulders and walked back to Tetra. Aryll remained at the open door, smiling with indescribable joy. Link laughed with exultation.
The moment, however, was ruined by Tetra's sarcastic remark. "I'm so sorry to interrupt such a heartwarming reunion." Both of them turned to stare at her. She pointed up at the sky. "But there's still something that you need to take care of."
Link understood and nodded grimly. He gathered up all his focus. Aryll walked up slowly to her big brother, worry etched on her petite face.
"There's no need to worry about your sister." Tetra was serious again. "I promise I'll bring her safely back to your little island. Though normally, I'd expect a hefty reward for something like this. But this time, it's on me."
Link had misjudged her earlier. She really was doing him a favor.
The pirate captain now addressed Aryll. "Listen, Aryll. Your brother still has some things to take care of. Big, important grownup things. He'll be back soon, so you just wait nice and quiet with us until he comes back. Okay?"
"But, big brother," she whispered to Link. He paid her little heed.
Gonzo hurried into the room. "Miss Tetra! That bird will be here any moment! We must leave!"
"Gonzo! Good timing! We're going to take her." He was about to object, but she glowered at him and snapped, "Just do what I say!" Link had never seen her look so threatening before.
The burly pirate then unceremoniously hoisted Aryll onto his shoulder and carried her away. "Big brother!" She cried. Link sadly waved to her. He knew she would be in good hands, but it hurt to know that he was so close, yet so far away.
They rushed out. Right before Tetra exited, she looked back at Link and winked. "Link. We'll meet again, I promise." Then she disappeared into the dark.
Up above, the unmistakable shape of the bird soared over. Link stepped into the stairs that led to a walkway. The door that Tetra and company escaped with eerily creaked and shut. Water gushed out of a hole in the floor and started spreading throughout the entire room. The bird dropped from the hole in the room and stopped its descent right in front of Link. It focused its feral eyes on him.
Link sighed. He supposed he should start "taking care of important, grownup things."
Link dashed up the path, trying not to spend all of his energy on the climb. The bird eyed him, but he ignored it. Well, until the bird squawked and pecked the walkway, nearly impaling him! It missed, but it was so mighty that that section of it broke off behind him. It served to encourage him to complete his goal: get to the top. He ran faster, desperately trying not to get pecked by the bird and consequently fall down with the walkway.
A bokoblin appeared from nowhere and swung its machete at Link. He dodged it. No time to engage in fighting, not with this bird trying to sabotage his mission. A squawk gave away the bird's intentions as it drove its beak into the wooden path again. Link emerged unharmed again, but judging from a panicked cry, the bokoblin sure didn't.
His feet hit stone again. Three blue jars were lined up against the wall. Link didn't bother with them. They probably just contained healing hearts, which he didn't need. He continued on, knowing that between the bird and the rising water, each second wasted meant a second closer to death.
He was back on a stretch of wood. Another bokoblin popped out right in his path. He jerked to a stop and swerved around it. But the monster delayed him long enough that the next peck landed on the section of path he was on!
The wood beneath his feet crumbled under him. He pushed off the falling path and leaped right onto the pathway again. Glad that he could continue up, he began rolling and running up. The boards splashed into the water below.
The trek was tiring him out. The physical exertion of climbing uphill and the panic that fueled his adenine was taking a toll on Link. So the next peck landed again on the pathway he was on. He threw himself at the path ahead and just barely caught it with his fingers. Kicking his feet in the air, he lifted himself up.
A third bokoblin jumped out of a pot and tried to duel with Link. How many of them were there? And when would this path end? He merely drew out his sword and cut it down out of his way. It wasn't dead, but that didn't really matter as of the moment.
The bird must have had enough of fruitless pecking and flew up. It rammed into Link, crushing him against the wall before retreating back. Link was injured, but still fit to run.
Up ahead were some pots. Link eagerly rushed for them, slashing at them for precious healing hearts. But rather than drawing his sword, he accidentally grabbed the skull hammer! Well, it still worked, but swinging the hammer took up more energy and time than he wanted. But the hearts were a sufficient trade off.
Finally, the last stretch of path. Link continued running up, though fully winded by now. No pecks destroyed the path behind him, no sudden ambushes from the bird. What was going on?
The last three jars awaited him on the path. Link stopped, turned around, and helped himself to more of the needed hearts.
When he turned back, he was in for a fright. The bird block the very end of the path to the top. Its large masked head loomed over the boy. He reflexively jumped back a little.
If there was a pot in sight, he might have thrown it at the monster like he did with Gohma. That was how panicked he was. Similarly, before registering what he was doing, he already smashed the bird's face in with his hammer.
With a loud screech of a wail, it flailed its head back and plunged into the water below like dead weight. Looking down, Link could see the missing sections of the path caused the by the boss.
One day I think I'm going to have a heart attack. The shock of seeing the bird right in his face combined with the effort it took to journey all the way here resulted in a very fatigued Link.
Well, it was over. It was an abnormally quick battle, but it was by far the most exhausting one he'd ever been in. The path cleared up, Link walked up to the end. Climbing over the small ledges, he soon stood at the very top of the entire fortress.
A stone bridge led up to Ganon's lair. Link was about to cross it (after catching his breath, of course) and fight Ganon with the Master Sword, but his plans were sabotaged by the shaking of the fortress. Was Ganon coming?
The tremor was so powerful that it shook Link right at the edge of the hole he'd just come out of. If he fell in, he would plummet into the water and, like the bird, die upon impact. Of so he'd thought.
The shaking abruptly ended with the arrival of the bird. It corkscrewed up, its flaming yellow tail trailing behind. If Link didn't have such... Bad experiences with it, he might even call the bird beautiful.
It continued spiraling high up. It fanned its wings out wide and began hovering in front of Link. Myriad feathers began drifting down. As it flapped its wings furiously, its tail waved out in time with it, like waves on the Great Sea.
Spikes popped up from the ground where the bridge was. He wouldn't be able to cross it, not even with his skull hammer. It looked like fighting Ganon would have to wait for another time. Spikes also ringed the entire round arena floor, sticking out from the walls. He'd had to avoid those. A makeshift floor covered up the large hole he was just in a minute ago. It was made from the ledges he'd climbed on earlier. Now it was one smooth arena floor.
The helmaroc king wasn't going to leave. Link was trapped with it. But he didn't mind.
He was ready for revenge.
Link generally had good morals, courtesy of his grandma, and usually revenge wasn't something he took part in. But, even though his conscience was against it, he decided to make an exception and forego his morals temporarily. He hoped Aryll would appreciate it.
The bird was already swooping down. Link readied his hammer, unsure of what exactly to do. He narrowly sidestepped out of the reach of the bird's talons as it landed, nearly on top of him.
Too close for comfort, Link thought. He began backing away. The bird's masked head turned to Link and hopped closer to him. It then waddled towards him. He backed away even more; yet he was mindful of the spikes on the walls. The bird was never far from him.
The monstrous bird proceeded to caw rather loudly and, with a lot of force, drove its armored beak into the stone ground. Again, Link just barely dodged it. Now that he was face-to-face with his opponent-well really, its head-Link could tell that its head wasn't actually bigger than him, but the mask made it look way taller than him.
The bird was shaking, struggling to pull its head out from the floor. Ironically, it seemed to have pinned itself onto the floor, while Link was free. For a second, Link considered taking its picto now, but shoved the thought aside as he realized that not all of the bird's body would show up. And that was not meet one of Carlov's standards. Ugh.
It squawked and screeched as it tried to free itself. Let me lend a hand-or a hammer, Link thought as he swung it back before slamming it into the bird's mask.
It threw its head back, free from the ground. Link could see a blue crack forming on the metal mask. It wailed and flew back into the safety of the air. Link didn't really think this idea would work, but just in case, he took out his bow and arrows and fired one at it. Sure enough, it bounced off the mask.
The bird circled around him in the night sky. It couldn't attack him from up there. The beams of light from the searchlights swept across the sky, occasionally illuminating the bird. It was here that Link chose to take the picto. Its head was in full view, its wings were spread out wide, and its fiery tail was cascading behind it. It was a very good picto. Right as it began diving down he took another one just in case, though he didn't have time to see how it turned out.
Much like before, Link had to evade the bird as it landed quite close to him and waited for it to peck the ground. It missed Link again when it pecked the ground. It was stuck yet again.
Just to be sure, Link slashed its talons and its bulging feathery belly. Just as he suspected, no damage. How annoying. It looked like he would have to get rid of the mask.
The bird was still immobilized. Link took the opportunity to pound his hammer into the bird's mask again. The crack widened even more.
It shrieked as it retreated back into the sky. It wasn't so harmless now. It spent less time in the air and more time assaulting Link with its numerous attacks. It rushed down, but rather than just landing, it raked its talons across the arena before flying back up. Red-hot sparks flickered in the air. Again, the bird swooped down only to drag its talons across the floor. Link wasn't expecting it and was caught up in the attack. He was thrown to the floor, all battered up. He rolled to the side to avoid a third attack. Link got up, watching the bird warily, but the bird was tired out as well. It landed soundlessly on the floor.
As usual, Link avoided it and waited for it to get itself stuck in the ground again. When it did, Link swung his hammer, sideways this time across its face. The crack split the mask. Yet somehow, it still stayed on.
Hey, what the heck? What happened to "three is the lucky number"? Link waited a fourth time to smash its mask. CRASH!
Cracks streaked through the metal, resembling a spider web. It shattered and broke off, piece by piece. And unlike the broken bits of pots, this remained on the ground. Link made a mental note not to trip over them.
The bird had a cute yellow crest on its head, much like a rooster's. In fact, the whole head looked like one of a rooster's. It had a dark reddish head and red glaring eyes. Its beak, unfortunately, was as sharp as ever. It seemed that pecking the stone ground hadn't dulled it at all.
It was truly angry now. It managed to stomp all over Link, who was caught unaware. Not giving Link a chance to recover from its rampage, it hovered back into the air, above him and flapped its winds furiously. Link got up and fought the forceful wind, running against it as hard as he could. He glanced behind him and saw the spikes jutting out from the wall mere inches away. Link ran harder, not wanting to be impaled on a spike.
Link nearly hurled himself forward as he continued running when the wind abruptly stopped. The bird escaped high into the air again.
Oh no you don't, Link thought as he readied his bow. Ignoring his injuries, he stood up and trained the arrow point at the flying bird. He released it, and without the mask to protect it, the bird screeched as it encountered the arrow. Many more followed. The bird decided to drop down again onto land.
Link wasn't going to let himself be crushed by the bird. He jumped away and taunted the bird by shooting more arrows at it. It worked; the bird was infuriated. It drove its beak into the ground once again, and Link pulled out his sword and slashed away. A muffled scream issued from the bird with each cut, and after several blows it tugged itself out of the ground and flew away.
With it temporarily gone, Link got the time to run to the edge and smite the rocks with his hammer. He collected the glittering healing hearts just in time for the bird to swipe the ground with its talons. Link half huffed, half sighed as he grabbed his bow and an arrow. Any time the bird was about to use an attack in the air, Link discouraged it by shooting its face. It was tired of getting shot over and over and finally just landed like normal. Good timing, Link thought grimly. I just ran out of arrows.
The bird turned to Link and hopped closer before pinning Link to the ground. Or at least it tried to; Link easily back flipped out of the way. Then, with a final mighty cut from the Master Sword, the bird was done for.
The bird screeched and started swaying unsteadily on its feet... Like it was drunk or something... And its wings started jerking and flapping as the bird tried to carry itself back to the sky. It flew with great effort, almost as if it were limping while it flew, if that was possible. Its bright, massive tail flailed in the sky, no longer so beautiful.
As if this were some show, the searchlights trained on the bird from all directions, one by one lighting it up as it wailed one last horrible scream and exploded into a huge dense cloud of purple dust. One thing fell from the remains. The heart container plummeted to the ground and bounced up with a pleasing chiming sound like a dropped rupee. Link jumped up and down in victory, with the hammer in hand. He had finally avenged his sister by defeating the bird. But there was still one other... thing he had to defeat.
As Link took the heart container, he brandished his sword and headed up the stone bridge to face the bird's master.
Author's Note: I'm back! Yay! And I'm sorry to say that... School's starting soon, and I don't think I will be able to update this for a long, long time (and if I do, it won't be very consistent). Maybe on weekends and breaks. Thanks to all my readers once again!