Chapter 27: The Waterfall
On the other side of the Puncture, Zelda found herself standing before the Palace of Twilight in the Twili District. There were two pedestals mounted with two glowing orbs that shined brightly. Outside the cloudy yellow-tinted sky, Zelda saw explosions occurring in every district of Skyloft, including the courtyard with the Goddess Statue.
She made her way into the Palace of Twilight, and was immediately ambushed by several armed Twili guards. When they saw the Fused Shadow, they backed away and escorted her to the platform where the Rail Riders were. They were now tied up and watched over by more Twili guards. Midna was watching them with her back to Zelda.
"What is it, Captain?" Midna asked without turning.
"It's a Hylian girl," the biggest Twili guard said. "She's brought the Fused Shadow."
"That can't be," Midna said, turning to face Zelda. Her face looked more worn than before. "You should've been corrupted by its power by now."
"Well, I'm not," Zelda answered. "Don't you remember me, Midna? It's me, Zelda."
Midna looked surprise. "How can you be standing here? You're still locked up in the Goddess Statue as far as we know."
"I was rescued by Link," Zelda answered.
Midna flinched. "Impossible! Link's dead!"
"Dead?" Zelda's hands trembled. "How?"
Midna's eyebrows furrowed. "It was the Priestess Cia who killed him. I sent him on a mission to retrieve the Fused Shadow fragments, but she was on his trail the whole time. His sacrifice inspired us to retaliate against those who support Ganon."
"So he joined the Twilight Wolves?" Zelda looked in the direction of the explosions and said, "How are you attacking when you're bound here?"
"We have many allies outside the Twili District, including Darak of the Gorons," Midna answered. "He's been providing our forces with enough Bombs to blow up the whole city, even the floating islands."
"But you can't do that!" Zelda exclaimed. "You'll be killing hundreds of innocent people, maybe thousands, and Hyrule Castle will be destroyed below us!"
"Don't get too excited," Midna said. "I don't plan to destroy the city. I'll just eliminate Ganon's forces and then take over as the new ruler of Skyloft, bathing it in a permanent Twilight that will soon spread across the world below."
"Then you're basically dooming all of us non-Twili folk to an external existence as spirits?" Karoline shouted. "Even though we've done nothing wrong?"
"Don't lie to yourself, Hylian scum!" Midna snapped. "Your people are the worst of all! You did nothing when Ganon rose to power, and instead accepted his lies like mindless sheep! For that, you'll be the first Hylians to die!"
"No!" Zelda shouted, getting Midna's attention. She held the Fused Shadow above her head and said, "If you kill them, I'll destroy the Fused Shadow."
"How can I be certain it's the real thing?" Midna said after a pause. "For all I know, it could be a fake and that you're not really Zelda but a spy disguised as her."
"I fought several monsters that were infused with these fragments, but for some reason I'm not affected by their power," Zelda said. "I can't explain it, Midna, but you have to trust me."
Midna looked between the Rail Riders and Zelda. Then she said, "Hand the Fused Shadow over to me, and I'll see if it's real or not."
"Only if you let the Rail Riders go," Zelda said.
"Very well," Midna replied and snapped her finger.
The Twili guards immediately untied the Rail Riders who hooked their Talon Clasps onto the Skyloft Rail above them and zipped away.
"I met my end of the bargain," Midna said holding her hand out. "Now meet yours."
So reluctantly, Zelda gave Midna the Fused Shadow. She then placed it over her head and a black energy engulfed her. To everyone's surprise, Midna was transformed into a spider-like beast that roared loudly causing the clouds to move. As the Twili guards cheered, they were immediately squashed by the creature's feet as it leaped onto the Skyloft Rail and took off after the Rail Riders. Zelda followed in pursuit and used her Talon Clasp to ride the Skyloft Rail.
Using the Kokiri Fan, she fanned flames underneath the creature's underside causing it to shutter briefly. Then it reared its gigantic helm-shaped head down at Zelda and used on of its arm-like legs to unclasp the talons. This caused Zelda to briefly freefall before hitting something underneath her. She discovered it was some kind of machine with wings flapping furiously, and then a familiar face emerged from under the cloth she fell onto.
"Impa," Zelda said gladly. "What are you doing here?"
"I'll explain later," Impa said, grabbing Zelda's hands. "You need to get in here."
Then before Zelda could ask, Impa dragged her off the cloth-like roof and into a space where a pair of seats were situated slightly below the wings and Lana was seated up front pulling several levers and a steering-wheel looking device.
"Do you think you take us higher, Lana?" Impa shouted.
"I'm not sure, now that there's extra weight on board!" Lana answered, and looked briefly at Zelda. She and Impa were wearing brown uniforms, glass-tinted goggles, and leather pouches that covered their mouths.
"I know how we could gain altitude!" Zelda said, holding up her Wind Parasol. "This thing can absorb wind and release it in gusts. I could position this below the thing we're in and blow the air downwards thus causing us to go up."
"For your information, this is a Loftwing!" Lana responded. "And don't think about endangering yourself! We came all this way to rescue you!"
"I'll be fine!" Zelda said and leaned over the side of the seat she was on twirling the Wind Parasol. Meanwhile, Impa was lying flat against the roof of the Loftwing.
Once Zelda had twirled it enough times, she folded the Wind Parasol only to unfold it. A powerful blast of wind caused the Loftwing to be skyrocketed up at an angle toward the floating islands. Lana tried to steer, but the force of the gale was so great that they crashed into the deep pool below a floating waterfall. As the Loftwing submerged, Zelda quickly put on her Zora Armor and caught Lana and Impa before they sank. She dragged both of them up to the pool's surface and onto the shoreline. Beyond it was the Bazaar, which was completely decimated as Clockwork Policemen fought against a mixture of Gorons and Zoras.
"Thanks for saving us," Lana said, removing the leather mask.
"Unfortunately, our only ride out of Skyloft is out of commission," Impa reported as the Loftwing sank to the bottom of the pool.
From a hidden cave, Zelda noticed several shapes swimming up. They were Zoras, and they didn't look very friendly.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Zelda said, picking Impa and Zelda off the ground. "This is clearly a war-zone!"
To be continued…