Zant hovered in the air above the foul smelling purple water that had once held the massive boss of the Forest Temple, while each of them were scattered along the thin chunk of land not submerged in the no doubt poisonous water.
As Midna held most of the various items he'd gathered to save them from weighing him down, Tails realised he was limited in his options. Zant opened with a barrage of energy balls, much like those the masks had fired but smaller and far quicker. He wasn't selective about who he targeted, but he rarely hit any of them – they all had their ways of getting clear of them.
Tails waited until the end of the first barrage then once again leapt up into the air. His recent experiences in battling while flying had been perfect preparation for this, hovering easily over the water below while he struck out at the usurper king.
Midna had apparently been at work figuring out what they could do, hurling the Gale Boomerang at Zant to drag him down to their level. While Jet, still armed with the bow, could only do so much at first, the boomerang had also stirred up the water and brought several bits of debris out of it. What appeared to have once been a piece of a heavy stone column found its way into his hands to increase the yowls Zant gave before he managed to escape them.
He blasted Tails back down to them with a single shot, large enough that he couldn't get out of the way in time, then changed the scene again. This time they were in the great heat of the Goron Mines, in the chamber he had faced the Goron who had misunderstood his presence.
Zant stood at one edge of the platform, starting to jump on it to make it tilt and turn. Tails just took off again, as did Jet, but Sonic and Knuckles had more trouble. Midna supplied Sonic with the Iron boots, much to his irritation, and held Knuckles down with her own power – which doubled as a shield this time.
Occasionally he would grow tired of his constant jumping, sending another barrage at them before pausing to rest. This of course, was a mistake – Midna took back both the Iron boots and her barrier over her and Knuckles, and all four of them were after him in moments.
Knuckles, already wary of the lava below chose not to leap onto Zant in case he sent them both tumbling over the edge. Instead, Tails flew around behind him, sheathed the sword and grabbed hard on the back of Zant's armour.
Zant stumbled back from their concerted attacks and Tails pulling him back, coming close to almost falling off before he teleported away. Tails was taken with him when he teleported, but he didn't appear aware of his unwanted passenger until Tails brought the sword out and delivered a stunning blow to Zant's head.
Again he teleported away, this time without Tails to change the scene yet again. He knew before the red runed ring had faded exactly where they were as he became soaked. Midna, wherever she was, quickly supplied him with the Zora tunic so he could breath, then as quickly as she could she grabbed all three others and appeared to create a barrier over them that allowed them to breath – but not help out this time.
After his attack, Zant seemed focused on Tails anyway. He caused a massive stone replica of his mask to shudder up out of the floor, engulfing him in the process. Then the front of it retracted and he sent yet another series of energy balls at Tails.
He just took out his shield and bashed as many of them back as he could, then after a quick gesture to Midna retrieved a Clawshot, dragged Zant out and fell back on his sword yet again. Zant seemed to have learned though, trying to teleport away before Tails managed to land many blows.
With the Clawshot still in his other hand though, Tails swum toward the massive mask, aiming the Clawshot for the first thing he thought he could latch on to, getting him inside the mask.
Zant's surprised shriek was muffled by the water around, but before Tails did anything he clutched at his own throat and set about changing the room again. Evidently Zant couldn't hold his breath for long.
This took them back to the Forest Temple, to the room he had fought the monkey to obtain the Gale Boomerang itself from. Zant copied the actions of the monkey, jumping from pillar to pillar with surprising agility.
Sonic was easily quicker than Zant was, slamming into the pillar Zant stood on before he could react. Zant fell, his helmet sticking him head-first into the ground where he flailed around helplessly until more muffled cries came when Knuckles bit savagely away. He quickly chose not to stick around here, teleporting away to take them to the next area without even going a second round.
The chill that came over him started to frost the last water that still remained in his fur, telling him louder than words this was the Yeti's mansion. Having had little success with his previous tactics, Zant tried a new tack, growing to massive proportions, hovering over the icy floor. He did his best to put himself in a position where he could stomp down on one of them, but the floor always gave them an escape just by sliding along it.
Midna attracted Tails' attention, so while Zant was busy trying to get Sonic and Jet he joined her.
"I've got an idea, but I need Knuckles to be changed back," she told him quickly. "Just touch your sword to him. I've already told him the rest."
Tails didn't even bother to think about questioning her, touching the still glowing sword to Knuckles' back. His form was restored with another explosion of bits of twilight.
"Duck," he told Tails as Midna dropped the ball and chain into Knuckles hands, swinging it easily over his head. He waited for Zant to stomp down, then sent it flying for Zant's nearest foot, causing him to draw it up sharply, clutching at it in pain as he hopped around, shrinking with each hop until he was back to normal size again. Sonic and Jet fell on him immediately while Knuckles tugged on the chain to get the ball back.
"Didn't you say he'd change back outside the palace?" Tails asked Midna, who nodded. "Then why hasn't he?"
"Isn't it obvious?" she replied, a little condescendingly. "These aren't the real things we're going to – they're just very good illusions he's creating."
"Get down again," Knuckles told him. "He's gone massive again."
The second time Knuckles stung Zant's foot, he shrank down instantly. He changed the scene again, seeming more desperate this time. When the view cleared again, they were somewhere in the Castle Town.
Zant looked around as if surprised, then quickly brought two short blades into his hands and rushed them. Tails took the sword off Knuckles to defend them, forcing Knuckles to change back again. Zant moved quick, but more out of desperation than skill, leaving himself open many times. He moved too quickly to take advantage of those openings with a sword for more than a moment, then an idea came to him.
"I need you to cooperate again, Goddesses," Tails muttered, then louder, "Jet! I need you! Knuckles, stay back for a moment. Sonic, try and hold him off for me?"
"What's this 'try' you're talking about?" Sonic called back, blurring around Zant to further confuse him.
"What do you need me for?" Jet asked curiously, ducking under a sudden attack of more energy balls in all directions.
"Take my sword and beat up Zant. I'm going to go wolf."
"I thought you said we couldn't take it?"
"I'm hoping I just worked around the rules slightly. Just take it and go, Jet – we don't have time to waste here."
Tails turned the sword around to hold it carefully by the blade, offering it to Jet who reluctantly took it. As it left Tails' hand the resident Triforce in his hand glowed again briefly, then he let go.
"Lighter than I thought it'd be," Jet noted, discarding his stone cudgel then leaving them.
Midna didn't need prompting to turn him into a wolf, allowing him to get started already.
He circled Zant on soft paws, watching carefully and waiting for his chance as both Sonic and Jet darted in and out. Knuckles circled opposite him in the same way, the wolven instincts making words unneccessary to convey their attack.
When he saw the opening he was after Tails dashed in, leapt up between the arms of the startled Zant and latched on, biting down hard even as Knuckles bit at Zant's legs to bring him crashing down to the ground.
They all stood around the fallen Zant, watching warily in case tried anything else, but he appeared to be defeated. The illusory town vanished, restoring the throne room around them and causing the three pieces of the Fused Shadow he'd gathered before, stolen by Zant in Lanayru's cavern, fell to the floor beside him.
Midna retrieved them, but at the same time she looked on in despair.
"What's wrong with her now?" Knuckles asked him.
"She was hoping to break a curse he laid on her," Tails growled back, having not been changed back yet. "I'd say it didn't work."
"Maybe because it was laid on her with that Ganondorf's power?"
"I heard that," Midna told them with an edge in her voice. "I told you I didn't speak wolf, I never told you I couldn't understand it."
"You could have told me," Tails replied.
Midna reached out and restored his form again, looking at the shadow gem.
"I should have realised when I saw this, but..."
"You wanted to hold on to the hope you could just defeat Zant," Tails finished.
"I may be finished," Zant breathed, coughing hard. "But so are you. Even now, my god has been reborn on the world below, and as long as Ganon survives he will resurrect me time and again until you at last fall before me!"
Midna made an incoherent sound of rage, then her flaming hair shot up, not as a hand but as three massive tendrils that shot at the lying form of Zant, who screamed as she attacked him personally, then he too vanished in a puff of shards of twilight.
Midna looked at her hands in awe as her hair returned to normal. "That was... just a fraction of the power I have now," she breathed. "Maybe... maybe we have a chance to save Zelda and defeat Ganondorf before he gets too powerful!"
"What's this maybe, Midna?" Tails asked. "We've come this far, haven't we? And aside from a few troubles along the way," he glanced to Sonic and Knuckles,
"We cleared up your palace without a hitch. There's no maybe about it – we will defeat Ganondorf."
"Right! Oh... but we don't know where to find him."
"I have an idea. If you'd care to take us back to the entrance, we'll go back to Hyrule and put an end to this."