"Heroic Tails... you are to be commended. Allow me to ease your weariness."
"Told you so."
"Oh, shut up, imp girl."
"Imp girl!"
They glanced up at Eldin.
"Sorry. Go on."
"North of here, beyond the plain and past the stone bridge, you will find the one you seek, in the lands of Lanayru. May the way of the Hero lead you to victory."
Tails nodded, then turned.
The children were gathered around Renado. Colin rushed over, a little unsteady, but clearly feeling better.
"Tails... you've got to save Ilia! Those monsters left me with the others, but she must have been taken somewhere else."
"I'm going to, Colin. I promised I'd take care of all of you, and I'm not going to back down on that now."
"I'm going to be brave, like you, Tails. See? You don't have to worry about me any more. Go save Ilia!"
"Alright. Promise me you'll be careful too?"
Colin grinned, and turned back to Renado, who'd approached.
"Leave them with me, Tails. I will watch over them, I swear it. Do not let their fates trouble you any longer. Go to those who need you most." He looked over Tails a moment, lost in thought, then turned back. "In Hyrule, countless tales are told of an ancient hero... your deeds have brought them all to mind. May the graces of the great goddesses who shaped Hyrule bear you on your way."
He guided them all away with a final nod of respect to Tails.
Tails glanced over to Renado's home. Sonic was leaning against it, eyes closed. Apparently, Renado had found some light clothing for him, as it was the custom here. As Renado passed, he glanced up, then joined Tails.
"You're looking better," he said by way of greeting.
"They're nice people. Renado told me about the whole Hero thing."
"I guess you know already."
"Chosen by their gods, eh? Think you're up to it?"
"Of course I am. I just went head to head with a Goron driven insane by dark magic, and won." He rubbed at a shoulder slightly. "Still ache a bit from it, but I beat him."
"Sounds like you're doin' great."
"Better than I thought... listen, if Renado ever gets the children back to Ordon village, go with them?"
"What for?"
"That's where my workshop ended up."
"Ah. You want me to keep watch on it."
"I'm not too worried about it, but I don't like leaving it alone for so long."
"I reckon it'll be fine. So where're you off to next?"
"You saw Eldin?"
"That bird thing in the spring? Sure. Hardly miss it."
"He said I'd find Ilia in the north."
"Mind if I come?"
"You can't let him," Midna broke in. "He doesn't know about the twilight. He'd become a spirit, or worse, a beast."
Sonic, of course, couldn't hear her, let alone see her.
"I think it'd be safer if you stayed here," he told Sonic. "After Zant did to you, probably not best to go near places he's still got an influence."
"Alright, it's your show here. Just let me know if you want a hand."
"I will. I'll stop by when I can."
Sonic nodded, then walked off back to the Inn.
Tails stood watching. Malo had gone back into the shop he took on. Renado, Beth and Luda were taking care of Colin. Talo had made his way up to a lookout post at the north end of the village.
He made his way up to join him, flying the last distance and landing neatly nearby.
"I'd love to be able to do that," Talo told him enviously.
"Don't try it yourself, I think you might have a bit of trouble."
"I know. Hey! When did you get that bow? If I had one I could shoot down monsters!"
"Is that what you're doing up here?"
"Sure am! I'm gonna make sure everyone knows when monsters attack again. Show me how to use a bow? Please Tails?"
He sighed. "Alright then."
A few minutes later, Malo had set up a pair of targets down by the spring.
"I've never even seen you use a bow before... can you use one?" Tails stared at him. "Whatever. That one." He pointed over at one beside Renado's house. He shot it easily. "Well, maybe that one was a bit easy... how about the one on top of the store?"
It was actually just behind the store, but like the first, he hit it easily.
"Hey Tails!" Talo yelled down from his watch post. "See if you can hit this pole up here!" Talo prudently stood aside.
He took careful aim, closing one eye to make sure, then loosed the arrow. It hit with a solid 'thunk' sound, the tip embedding itself in the post.
Talo looked amazed.
Malo, of course, stayed his cynical self, but at least grudgingly admitted he had some skill, and handed over something he called the 'hawk-eye'.
"You can use it to see far off. Or to shoot even better at distance," he said before going back to his store.
The children satisfied, his next stop was Barnes.
The bomb maker glanced up from behind his counter when he entered.
"Well hey, if it isn't the hero of the town!"
"Has word really spread that quickly?"
"Look in town – the Gorons are back already. And I've got my first bombs in stock again!"
"That's what I was coming to ask about, actually."
"You don't have a bomb bag, do you?"
"I don't think so."
"Well then, here. On me, because I'm in a good mood, a bomb bag full with bombs."
"You're too generous."
"Just wait. I'm working on bombs that work underwater next."
"I can't wait. They sound useful."
Tails rode north with Epona. He'd almost have preferred to travel by more normal means, but he also had to admit that after the Goron mines, he needed a break. He didn't push Epona much.
The bridge he'd fought against Sonic on was clear. The boxes that had been set alight there were now just a few piles of ash being blown away.
On the far side of the Bridge of Eldin, there stood three large boulders, blocking the way.
He pulled out the bag of bombs Barnes had given him. It looked only large enough for a single bomb to him, but what did he know?
He glanced in, and saw only one. As he took it out though, another one seemed to already be there.
This world was full of strange magic, for sure.
The bomb also lit itself as it was removed, so he hurled it toward the boulders.
The explosion was loud, but not loud enough to hide a familiar sound behind him of a portal forming.
He wheeled Epona round, and watched as an entire chunk of the bridge seemed to dissolve into black chunks of twilight and be sucked into the red portal. Three shadow beasts dropped out after it, and started running down the bridge toward him.
He pulled out the bow and shot at one, but it seemed to just shrug it aside, so he dismounted, drawing his sword. This would be the first time he fought them as himself, rather than as a wolf.
He spun his tails, picking up more speed. They weren't prepared for it, and the first fell easily with a swift and sharp blow to it's side.
The remaining two took yet more blows, lighter than the last. He drew them close, stunning one briefly by jabbing his shield at it, then performing a spinning attack.
The beasts puffed into twilight, and re-formed the portal in green.
Midna moved to look at it.
"I don't think it's safe to use that one. It'd drop us in the gorge."
"We just have to find the piece of bridge."
"Happy hunting, wolf boy. We've got the last Fused Shadow to get first."
"Yeah, yeah, I haven't forgotten already."
Tails rode on. Aside from a couple more bokoblins (These things seem to get everywhere!) there was no trouble at all.
He left Epona near the wall of twilight, hoping she'd be alright, then waited for Midna.
She grabbed him the same way she always had, still startling him slightly.
"Ah, the last of the twilight in this world. I'd almost come to like it here. But is it really the last you'll see? Who knows? Lets go, wolfy."
He ran on down the path, ignoring the shadow Keese. They weren't much of a bother. If one got too close he just whipped at it.
A backpack was on the road ahead. He didn't have to smell it to recognise it belonged to Ilia.
He sniffed around it anyway, picking up a faint scent.
"You smell the girl, don't you? I wonder how old it is by now though?"
The trail seemed to follow the well worn path, so he followed it, only checking periodically to make sure he hadn't lost the scent.
Once in a while a shadow bokoblin tried to shoot at him, but they were slow and clumsy, and he was running fairly fast, so they missed often.
The scent's trail led to some faintly familiar stone walls, and a bridge leading to a walled town. Behind it lay a very familiar castle.
"Hey, haven't we seen this place before? So, we finally made it back. Only a little farther now... but it'll likely get harder from here."
He didn't doubt. The trail followed over the bridge, so he continued over and nudged open the gate into the town.
A sign outside read 'Hyrule Castle Town'.
The town was thick with spirits. He didn't bother listening in or checking on them; with this many around it'd take him forever.
He followed the scent to a doctor's place in the west of the town, then from it to a bar.
Outside, he heard a scrabbling sound from a box.
Breaking the box, he found a shadow bug, and swatting it, he found a light tear.
"Well, isn't this interesting? It doesn't look like we can collect it for now... but let's remember it's here. We can come back later."
Interesting or not, it was one less to hunt for later.
Inside the bar there were two groups of people. Three around a nearby table, and four in the back looking over a map.
He listened in to them first.
"Now listen! We've had complaints about the water. Lake Hylia is the source of the water for the town, so something must have happened there. The spirit's spring is marked on the map. Learn it! You'll be heading there to find out what's happened."
Tails checked the map, working out where he was. He was somewhat amazed at the distance he'd covered already, and how much of Hyrule he'd actually been to.
Lake Hylia was south east of here, and was fed by a river that ran directly under the river from a place marked as Zora's Domain.
Next his checked the three around the other table. One turned out to be a well-endowed woman. One was unmistakably Ilia. The last was a strange young child. It was hard to tell what he was. In any case, he seemed to be in bad shape.
He listened in to them.
"This boy... can he be saved?" Ilia asked of the woman.
"Settle down now, little lady. I sent for the doctor. But it is strange... a Zora child?"
"Telma? Could it have something to do with the water problem?"
"It's possible. The water does come from Zora's Domain."
"Aw, what a lovely reunion this is!" Midna exclaimed. "A girl and her wolf! Of course, you know she can't see you."
Tails treated her to another snarl. Sometimes her teasing went a bit far.
"She does have a point though. Zora's Domain looks like the place to be looking."
Zora's Domain proved to be unreachable by them for now, so instead they headed to the bridge above Lake Hylia.
He peered down over an edge.
"You know, isn't there meant to be more water? I mean, it's hardly more than a puddle."
It was true, the lake seemed to be unusually small. There were some spirits faintly visible on the lakebed.
It didn't look like there was any way down from here, so he started over the bridge. It seemed to be covered in some black liquid with an odd smell.
Midna noticed too.
"Don't want to bother you," she said, "But look behind us."
A shadow bulbin had set light to the liquid. He heard the sounds of fire from the other side of the bridge too, the flames rapidly heading their way.
"This isn't good. Do something, wolf boy!"
What could he do? There wasn't any escape, except...
He quickly jumped up on one side of the bridge, checking below. The puddle of the lake was right below them. It'd have to do.
He jumped, just missing getting caught by the approaching flames.
He landed in the water, momentum making him dive deep and almost touching the bottom of the remains of the lake.
Midna jumped off before then, waiting for him to resurface. He swam to shore – or at least what was now the shore - and shook himself dry, spraying water everywhere.
"Hey! Cut that out, you'll get me wet too!" She frowned. "Is it just me or is it cold here? I'm sure that's not right. We should investigate.
Well, you should, I'll stick around to help out. Maybe."
Tails grumbled to himself, it coming out as a series of low growls and snarls, but looked around.
Some of the spirits he'd seen before were here. They looked like a cross between humans and fish. Maybe these were the Zoras.
They seemed to be just as worried about the lake as he was, but none said anything useful, so he continued looking, finding what looked like a depressed, slightly overweight man, stood by a strange looking building. It looked like it was meant to be floating on the water, but had been marooned down here with the lake's draining.
"I'm too old for this," the man complained. "Fyer and Falbi's Watertop land of Fantastication... out grand re-opening at our new lake-bottom location. Nice lake... sure... don't lakes have more water in them? Did the Zoras do something, or is it that spirit in that cave up there? Whatever... not like I can do anything. I can't climb way up there." He seemed to notice something off to one side. "What? A customer?" He peered over. Tails followed his gaze. "No, that's a monster!" he shrieked, trying to hide.
It was, in fact, just another shadow bokoblin. How did these things get everywhere? Did no one try and keep them under control or something?
The bokoblin noticed him before he got near, blowing on some hawk reeds. Instead of a hawk though, a shadow kargarok answered the call.
The bokoblin jumped onto it's back, and started firing arrows at Tails, which he dodged while waiting for the kargarok to dive low.
When it did, he leaped at it, gripping with the claws from his paws – something he almost wished he had normally as well – and biting and tearing away wherever he could.
The kargarok gave a kind of honking sound, throwing him off, and soaring higher to avoid him again while the bokoblin fired more arrows at him.
On his second attack, the kargarok bucked off it's rider, which was in turn easily finished by Tails.
He'd planned to finish the kargarok too, but Midna instead left him, and took a place on it's back instead. It struggled under her.
"Cut it out," she told it. "I'm your master now, so settle already." It finally settled, just waiting for her to tell it what to do. "What do you think, wolf boy? We could use this big bird to fly all the way up Zora's River. If that map we looked at was right, it's the only way up to Zora's Domain."
Tails wasn't enthusiastic about this. How was he going to get on? There wasn't enough room for him as well as her on it's back.
"That's settled then," she said, not paying attention to what he was thinking. She directed the bird to swoop down, and caught him in it's talons.
The canyon she flew them up was lined with shadow bokoblins and shadow bulbins, all firing at them. Several times, he had to swing up to avoid getting hit, but mostly Midna handled it easily, directing the bird around falling rocks and arrows alike. The air seemed to chill and get colder the further up they went, but he had a thick coat of fur on. It didn't bother him. Midna would no doubt complain to him about it though. He wondered if it was even possible to keep her happy about everything.
They emerged at what was clearly meant to be a riverbed, but was little more than an icy stream, trickling down feebly. The kargarok, finally released from Midna's control, flew off with an angry honk at them, and Midna landed on Tails' back once more.
"We're here already? The bird was more useful than I thought... let's go looking for the village of the Zora's. And hurry... it's getting really cold here."
Nearby, there was a building straddling the river, it seemed. A person who resembled Coro from back at Ordon was sat on one side of some wooden steps. It looked like there was meant to be a bridge linking them to the steps on the other side, but it'd dropped down with the lack of water supporting it, cutting them off.
He didn't have much of interest to say, except to further implicate the Zora's as the cause of the lack of water.
The only way ahead was to follow the river upstream. As he went, it started snowing as everything froze around him. A frozen water fall marked where the water normally came from, formed into vast stalagmites and stalactites of ice.
A few keese were flying aimlessly around, as keese always seemed to do, so he ignored them until they grew to be a pest.
"I think you might be able to climb up these pillars," Midna called from his back. "Take it slow though. You don't want to fall off. It'd be a long way down, and that'd hurt."
No doubting that. He was thankful again for the claws he had in this form as he leapt up, digging them in to keep a grip on the slippery ice.
At the top, it was clearer than ever that this was a frozen river. It looked like it had just seized up in place, turning from water to ice without going through anything in between.
It lead into a large round chamber. The water seemed to come from a central area, which in turn was surrounded by pillars, creating a small cavern behind them. At the back in a smaller cavern of it's own was an unoccupied throne.
Three shadow beasts were shuffling and sniffing around atop the central ice, below a small patch of sky.
They offered little resistance, being used to their tactics by now, leaving them with another portal to add to their collection.
"Look down – in the ice. Aren't those Zoras?"
Sure enough, they were there, frozen in the ice. It stretched down for a long ways, and there were a lot of Zoras trapped in them.
"Can't we do something? Thaw them out somehow?"
He thought for a moment, then reached an idea, and using one claw, scratched a word in the ice: 'Mountain'.
"Mountain? You mean Death Mountain? You want to go there?"
He nodded. She hadn't realised what he was up to yet, but she would before long.
It was an odd feeling, going from the cold Zora's Domain to the heat of Death Mountain.
As their view cleared, the giant volcanic rock that had almost fallen on them when they were last here was directly in front. Midna got the idea instantly.
"It's cooled a lot, but it'd probably do the trick... nice thinking, wolf boy. I'll warp it back ahead of us."