The locked door led them back inside the palace, to a large but seemingly almost completely empty room. There was a patch of fog ahead of them and designs on a part of the floor that showed a deactivated platform, but little else.
Knuckles sniffed at the air as he padded into the room behind them then bounded toward the fog as he caught a scent. His path was barred by the sudden appearance of a barrier, but there didn't appear to be any enemies within it.
The rest of them were blocked off too by another barrier, forcing them to stand and watch. After a short wait a familiar red portal formed in the air to drop several Shadow Beasts. With Midna having taken up residence on Knuckles' back, they posed little threat to anyone in their short lifetime before he finished them off – releasing the barriers in the process.
"I think I'm going to have a word with him about rushing ahead like that," Tails muttered, watching Knuckles head into the fog again. "If he does that again and it turns out to be something he can't handle..."
"You could have flown over the barrier," Jet pointed out. "There wasn't anything above it, and it's not like they're all that tall."
Tails almost replied, but Midna called to him.
"We've found something here, Tails. Looks like something you'll have to handle. Clear the fog heading for me – wolf boy can get out the way before you get me."
"I thought I was 'wolf boy'?" Tails called back as he started to banish the fog.
"You are," Midna agreed. "But you're not a wolf right now. He is."
Hidden under the cover of the fog were four darkened orbs and another inactive platform. Knowing how slow they moved, they kept clear of Tails while he activated all of them with a spin attack, then crowded on to the small space before it got out of reach.
On an impulse, Tails reached out to Knuckles and patted him on the head.
"Good boy," he said, concealing a grin.
"Not you too," Knuckles grumbled. "What am I, a trained dog?"
As the platform rose up another platform appeared before them. Sonic and Knuckles jumped the gap first, followed by Tails and Jet as the two of them could fly. This platform headed forward a ways, where two more appeared.
"Take the left one," Midna supplied after surreptitiously examining the compass. "There's a Baba Serpent on the ledge it leads to."
"I'll take it out," Sonic told them. Tails noticed he'd become more proficient with the sword than the first time he'd handed it to him, probably by watching him.
Another light-filled platform awaited them to one side of the now-vacated ledge which took them up and over to the far side of the room. A Zant mask shot at them, but it failed to account for their movement so its attacks sailed harmlessly past them until Tails flew ahead and destroyed it.
"You can keep guiding them, right?" he called to Midna, who gave him a flat look. "Silly question I guess. I'm going to fly on over to those ledges over there," he gestured to the other side of the room again, where there were more ledges higher up. "I'll wait for you if I hit a problem or a door."
Another Zant mask waited for him, but like the last one it completely missed him. He did take care to ensure that the energy balls it spat wouldn't miss him only to catch his friends, then finished it off without even waiting to get his feet back on the floor.
This one caused a chest to appear with another small key inside. After a few moments to look about he spotted the only possible route from there onward, a corridor with steps at the near end that stopped at the walls edge, and a locked door at the far end.
Before he reached the door another image of Zant appeared, but unlike the last two it didn't try to call a portal and wasn't even solid.
"Turn aside from your course," it hissed at him. "It isn't too late for you to give up and join me. We could rule together."
"You know, there's one thing I've never understood about people like you," Tails replied conversationally. "Why do you always think that the hero even wants to rule in the first place?"
"Everyone wants power sooner or later. Even you. You tasted it every time your friend taught you a new skill. Again when you called upon the storm to defeat the dragon. Every time that shard of the Triforce you bear glows. Do you not even now use the power of the curse I laid upon you to do things you could not as you are?"
"There's a difference between using power and wanting it. When you get right down to it, I didn't even want this – but for whatever reason, the Goddesses chose me to be Hyrule's hero, and I'm not going to let them down. Give up, Zant," he went on. "You might have forced Sonic to become one of your mindless minions once, but I freed him from that. You cursed me, and probably had a hand in forcing Knuckles to be stuck as a wolf here, but we know how to handle that. You have no hold on me. You're just a feeble, empty, foolish person with a lust for power that will get you killed. The Twili know you're not their true leader. You're alone without anyone who cares about you – not even Ganondorf."
The Zant image clearly showed the shocked reaction the real Zant had experienced, then it hissed back, "You'll come to regret your choice, Hero of the Goddesses. That little imp will be your own demise." Then the image flickered out.
"He wishes," Midna snorted from behind. "That was an interesting little discussion you had with him."
"Fairly standard," he shrugged. "It's a tiresome old cliché – the bad guy thinks everyone wants to rule the world, so tries to subvert the hero by offering him power. Even if I had been interested, I've still got the obligation to stop him, so he never had a chance anyway. Did you have any trouble getting here?"
"Not after a few more platforms appeared when you got up here," she replied. "Just be careful now, all of you. We're getting very close to Zant."
"Maybe that's why he put in an appearance," Tails mused, unlocking the door. "He's afraid we might actually reach him. Won't it be terribly disappointing for him if we showed up anyway?"
"I think being a hero might be bad for you," Sonic observed. "You'd never say anything like that before."
"Then maybe it's about time I did," Tails replied. "I think you and Jet will want to wait here," he added, seeing the mass of fog before them in the next room.
"Shadow Beasts," Knuckles growled. "And a lot of them."
"Right," Tails agreed. "I can see the head of one just poking out of the fog, and we know arrows aren't going to do any good against them."
"Shadow Beasts?" Jet asked distastefully, having not understood Knuckles' warning.
"Exactly. Sonic should be able to handle any of them that come after you. Knuckles and I will handle these. The fog will make me change back into a wolf, and with Midna's help we'll handle them easily."
"I can't help both of you at the same time," she warned.
"That's alright," Tails replied. "I can still fight on without you."
"Wait, why not just make the fog go away?" Sonic asked. "Like you've been doing before?"
"Look at the fog, Sonic," Midna said. "It's much thicker than the stuff we've been encountering before. Even if he did, it would just come back. We might have to pull you across the room again afterwards."
"Not if I'm right," Tails disagreed. "But that can wait. Lets go play with some Shadow Beasts."
There was one that burst out of the fog just as Tails was heading into it, but Knuckles quickly distracted it, viciously biting away at it to keep it from attacking Tails. Once he'd changed form, he finished it off, then headed further into the fog.
The sound of barriers dropping came to them. After a moment to re-examine the area with the sharper wolf senses, he saw they had effectively been penned into the foggy area – which was teeming with Shadow Beasts.
Knuckles made full use of Midna's ability to hold them down to catch many of them at once, while Tails kept to those that tried to interfere with that. He wasn't concerned that he had to fight without Midna, he just kept watch on the numbers of the Shadow Beasts so he never made the mistake of letting one revive the others.
When there were only two left, rather than have Midna hold both down the two wolves attacked simultaneously, taking them both down before either had the chance to revive the fallen that littered the floor.
As the massed defeated began to puff away into nothingness, the problem of getting Sonic through the room was solved for them as the fog lifted of its own accord, along with the barriers. Midna nudged Knuckles over to Tails, where she restored his form.
"Did you know that was going to happen?" she asked him suspiciously.
"Of course I did," he answered offhandedly. "What else did you think I was going to be right about?"
"I don't know – maybe using that beam attack from your sword to cut a path through, then having him run through the gap before it settled?"
"I don't know why I'd think of such a good idea when it wouldn't be needed," he replied with a straight face. "How much further do we have to go to reach Zant?"
"Through the door, of course. Why else would it have the lock that only the big key can open?"
"I wasn't really looking at the door," Tails admitted. "I was kinda busy with the Shadow Beasts."
On the other side of the door was a short flight of steps that lead to the throne room. Even from the door, he could see Zant sat on the throne.
"Be careful, wolf boy," Midna warned him quietly. "Both of you."
Tails winked at her, then walked on ahead.
"Ah, there you are Zant," Tails called when he reached the top of the steps. "I've been looking all over for you. I really must thank you, you know – it's thanks to the curse you placed on me that I'm even here in the first place. To think it's all thanks to that bit of magic that we can all be here today to see the end of you."
"You still speak of magic?" Zant said derisively. "Still your tongue for a moment, and I will tell you of magic and more. We, the Twili, a people who mastered the arts of magic, have been locked away in this world like criminals in their cells."
"Sonic," Tails murmured, not taking his eyes of Zant. "Come a little closer. I need to let you know about something, and we don't need him overhearing."
Zant was already oblivious to this, the helmet retracting back to reveal his face, almost normal but for being blue and the glowing eyes. "In the shadows we regressed," he went on. "so much so that before long, we knew neither anger or hatred, or even the slightest desire. All of this... all because of a royal family that would do nothing! A royal family that merely resigned itself to this miserable half-existence!" Zant broke off, twisting himself awkwardly with an odd howling kind of scream.
"What do you need me for?" Sonic whispered.
"In a moment, when I give the word, I want you to do what you do best," Tails breathed back. "Use your speed to get behind him and attack. Make sure you get clear before he gets you. I want to use his rambling as a weapon against him. Just wait for my signal."
Zant had begun an insane caper of fury up on the dais ahead, looking ridiculous as he did it. When he finished he was breathing hard, but continued anyway. "I had served an endured in that depraved household for far too long, my impudent princess. And why? Because I believed I would be the next ruler of our people!"
He suddenly jumped off the dais toward them. Without thinking, Tails raised his sword to defend himself, lashing out almost before he realised it. Zant narrowly evaded it, then continued his deranged caper, dancing around them as he continued to howl and rant.
"Any moment now," Tails said quietly, more to himself than to Sonic.
"But would anyone recognise me as their king?" Zant demanded. "No! And because of that, I was denied the magic that befits our ruler! And it was then, in the thrall of hatred and despair I cast my eyes to the heavens... and found a god."
"Ganondorf," Midna said.
"Yes," Zant agreed, suddenly sounding very rational as he teleported back to the throne. "He had but one wish. To merge shadow and light to create a world of eternal darkness!"
"Now, Sonic!" Tails barked, already charging for the usurper king himself, Knuckles bounding along at his side.
Sonic blurred into a blue streak that got behind Zant before he could react, striking out blow after blow on his back that he was unprepared for, despite the minimal harm it actually did. Knuckles dashed ahead and leapt onto Zant's front, biting and tearing away at him just as they had done the Shadow Beasts before.
Sonic stepped aside when Tails caught up, allowing him to drive the glowing Master Sword into Zant's back through a narrow gap in his armour. Zant howled, teleporting off the sword and away from all of them to float in the air, then with another howl the room darkened except for a glowing red circle of runes.
When light was restored, the throne room had been replaced with a part of the Forest Temple.
It didn't make any difference to Tails where they fought now. He had Zant in his sights and wasn't going to let him out of them easily.