Chapter 4: Linkle's Quest Begins
As the soldiers in the training grounds practiced their fighting, Linkle leaned against the wall, playing with her golden compass given to her by her grandmother.
She thought back to how she had let Link go off on his own with the soldiers to check out the portal. None had come back yet, and that made her worry. Last time one of these had shown up, it led to another dimension in the Great Sea, and it had taken him longer to come back. But she was still getting used to the whole Hyrulean Army thing.
Even if Link didn't need the help, she sure wanted to give him some.
She took a deep breath, glanced around to see if anyone was watching her, and snuck out.
Link had gone out to explore the Gate of Souls, but hadn't returned. This gave Linkle both a chance and an excuse to leave and go help him out. She also knew that Zelda would say no, which was why she didn't ask anyone and would need some outside help.
She had heard them mention of two sorceresses that lived in the Valley of Seers by the names of Lana and Cia. From what she heard, neither one would take any hesitation in helping Link.
However, once she arrived at the valley, she found it under attack by monsters. Both sorceresses were trapped in the temple, desperate for help. Not being one to deny the call, Linkle sprang into battle.
Linkle charged at a huge group of Bokoblins, red goblin-like creatures thirsty for blood, and began to shoot them down with her two crossbows.
"A stranger? Helping us?" one of the Goron Captains questioned. "Who are you?"
"I'm Linkle!" she cheered. "And I need to speak with Lana and Cia. It's important."
"I'm afraid that's going to have to wait," he told her. "These monsters are keeping them hostage up in the temple! All of the entrances are shut tight."
Linkle shot down some more Bokoblins, until she spotted an Aeralfos flying toward them. She began to fight the winged creature.
"Cia, what are we going to do?" blue-haired white-clad Lana asked, her Book of Sorcery tight in one hand. She fired a few magic spells at some nearby enemies.
"I suppose we just keep fighting," the white-haired black-clad Cia answered, slapping some more with her Scepter.
"Maybe if we take those two keeps, then we can open those doors from the inside," she suggested. "I'll go to the Western Room. You take the Eastern one."
They began to advance in opposite directions until they arrived at their destinations. They began to fight the Bokoblins inside of the keeps.
"Um, hello?" Linkle shouted to them once she finished off the Aeralfos. "My name is Linkle, and I need to talk to you two."
"Now is a really bad time!" Cia answered, taking out some more newly-spawned enemies.
"What Cia means is we could use some help," Lana corrected her.
"Of course!" Linkle agreed. "But, after can we talk?"
Lana and Cia continued to take out the Monster Forces, hoping their plan would work. Once Lana defeated the Keep Boss from hers, all of the doors opened.
"Hooray!" she cheered. "Now we can advance forward!"
"Follow Lana!" shouted a Goron Captain that was trapped up there with them.
He, another Goron Captain, and a huge group of gorons marched out of the temple behind Lana. They fought any Bokoblins and Aeralfos that got in their way.
Soon after, Cia took the keep she was in as well, opening its doors. She hurried out, with the rest of their forces that were trapped with them behind her.
Because the main gate was still locked shut, Lana had to resort to taking her forces to the West Ruins, the next keep in their way. If they could take that keep, then they would finally be free and have access to the rest of the battlefield.
Lana and her group of gorons began to attack the monsters inside, attempting to take the keep for her own.
Cia darted down the stairs, with the other half of their trapped forces behind her, until they arrived at a bridge. The bridge was up, meaning they couldn't reach Linkle and the rest of the Allied Forces.
"Lana," spoke Cia's voice. "The bridge is up. There's no way for my group to get across."
"If we take the West Ruins, then we'll be able to reach the rest of the forces," she answered.
"Fine," Cia went on. "I guess I'll just have to go all the way around, then."
Lana just finished defeating the Keep Boss, claiming the West Ruins for her forces. The doors opened, finally allowing her freedom.
However, this also triggered the bridge to lower down, and the main gates to the temple to open up.
"You always were my better half," Cia said with a smile, and hurried down the battlefield.
Linkle and a Goron Captain just defeated another Aeralfos in front of the Fairy Fountain, which was across from the main gates to the temple. That was when Lana arrived with one half of their trapped forces from the west, and Cia did the same from the east. They all met up in front of the Fairy Fountain.
"Linkle," Lana cheered. "Thank you for helping us down in the south end of the battlefield."
"I'm just here to help," she answered. "So, how do we get rid of all of these monsters?"
"My guess is that they're being controlled by someone, and that they're too cowardly to reveal themselves," Cia spat.
"Perhaps we can ask the Great Fairy to show them," Lana suggested. "First thing's first. We have to take the Fairy Fountain back."
"Leave that to me!" Linkle told her. "You guys work on taking more keeps in the north."
And with that, they all split up and advanced to their keeps. Linkle hurried inside the Fairy Fountain and began to shoot the Bokoblins inside. Once enough had been defeated, the Keep Boss emerged. She defeated the slightly larger Bokoblin, claiming the keep and allowing the Magic Circle to appear. She stood in the center and activated it, causing the Great Fairy to fire out of the water in front of her.
The fairy looked down at Linkle, laughed, and let out a huge trail of smaller fairies. They zoomed past Linkle and outside of the keep. The girl chased after them so she could watch what they were going to do. The Great Fairy went back into the water and disappeared.
Linkle watched as the fairies flew into the air and created a giant lantern. The light radiating from the lantern shined down onto the whole battlefield, which allowed a King Dodongo to appear in the south end of the battlefield. The fairies then disappeared.
"There it is!" Cia roared. "That must be the beast leading these monsters. Let's go kill it!"
Cia began to advance downwards, with Linkle close behind.
"I'm coming too!" Lana shouted, and hurried after them.
Eventually, the three arrived at the giant golden-scaled beast, who glared down at them with his red horns atop his head. Gorons were already trying to fight it, but were also busy fighting Bokoblins.
Luckily, all three of them knew how to fight it: throw bombs into his mouth.
The three waited for the right moment, dodging every slap that came from the creature's front leg, until he opened his mouth wide open. As he was trying to cough up a huge fireball, Lana created bombs with her magic and fired them all inside the creature's mouth. He swallowed them, and they all exploded inside of him. He collapsed to the ground, giving the three girls a chance to fight it.
Cia had gathered up enough energy and leaped into the air. Raising her Scepter above her head, she smacked it down hard on the top of his head, destroying him once and for all. He exploded into green, blue, and red rupees.
"Yeah! We did it!" Linkle cheered.
Lana and Cia gathered up all of their Allied Forces, and they all gathered in front of the temple. With the battle won, Linkle finally had a chance to speak with them.
"You see, another Gate of Souls opened up," she began to explain. "And Link went in with some men, just in case there was danger there. But he hasn't returned, and I wanted to go in after him. But I know Princess Zelda would have said no, which was why I came to you two."
"So, you admit that you are disobeying the orders given to you by your ruler," Cia realized.
"Well, technically she didn't tell me to not go after him," Linkle countered.
"I don't care what she said, I'll go," Lana declared.
Linkle looked up at Cia with hopeful eyes.
She rolled hers. "Fine, let's go."
