Chapter 39: Another old enemy…
As the group arrived in the next room, the first thing they noticed was that they were now in the room where Darunia collected the map, with the lava on the ceiling and it unleashing burning debris at regular intervals. On top of that, a Wizrobe appeared in the room, with fire sticking from the top of its cane.
"Oh for Nayru's sake, not THIS guy again!?" Link said, facepalming in utter frustration.
"You have faced him before, huh?" Nabooru said.
"Yeah, this is the SIXTH time I've encountered him." Link replied, seeing the Wizrobe dancing around before teleporting away, appearing again on one of the pads that were laid out spread throughout the room.
Link immediately saw where he was and blasted him with a Light Arrow, making him vanish and reappear on a different pad, this time Saria shot him with a Light Arrow. Then, the Wizrobe tried to trick the group into making illusionary copies of himself, but the group saw through the trick and struck him again twice with a Light Arrow, defeating it and making the pads vanish.
"That was way too easy." Zelda commented.
"I agree." Saria said, as the group made their way to the other side using their Hook- and Clawshots to get on the other side with the aid of a chest that was standing there, with Darunia, Rauru and Impa each taking one of the Gerudo Pirates with them as a passenger to ensure no one gets left behind.
Moving down the staircase, the group arrived in the open room where there was a hole in the floor to let sunlight through, but now they were on a small platform… There were however small bridges made to the other side of the area instead of being just an open floor that would make one fall into the sky.
"These bridges are new… apparently the two know about this place and its history…" Link said, moving on the bridge to the right, while Saria covered him by shooting an arrow at one of the Poes that appeared, defeating it. Once the group reached the other side, they climbed into the alcove, finding themselves in the room where they had defeated the Real Bombchus and the Dodongos before… although they were now facing Death Armos, the floating Armos Statues that were waiting for something to move underneath them to crush the unfortunate victim.
"These freaks will crush us if we pass underneath them!" Nabooru said.
"I know, which is why we can use this to our advantage." Link said.
"Huh? How?" One of the Gerudo Pirates asked.
"Take a look on their bodies; they sport the same red emblem we saw elsewhere in the Temple." Link said.
"Yeah, I see them!" Zelda said.
"I can see them too, so what's your idea?" Saria asked.
"Simple, fire a Light Arrow underneath them to make them flip over and then taunt them into trying to crush us. If done right, they should crash in the floor instead, which critically damages them to make them explode like the normal Armos. You can use your shields to defend against it." Link said.
"Right." Ruto said, nodding.
Link demonstrated the tactic by moving to a Death Armos, using a Light Arrow to make it flip over, before moving underneath it on purpose. The Death Armos fell for it, moving to slam down on Link, only for Link to move out of the way, causing the Death Armos to hit the ground head-first instead, making it flash red as it was damaged before detonating in an explosion, never to be seen again.
"Now THAT is an explosive headache." Link said, causing Zelda, Saria, Ruto and Nabooru to laugh, while Impa, Rauru and Darunia were highly amused. The four Pirates were confused, but chuckled nonetheless.
With the remaining Death Armos being given a similar treatment, the group went on to the next room, entering a room that also had bridges around to connect the areas better. With this in mind, Link shot an arrow to move some Spike Mines out of the way before proceeding to a door at the far side of the area.
"Oh man, I've seen some crazy stuff, but this is ridiculous!" One of the Pirates said.
"Yeah; I mean, we're basically upside down now, doesn't this affect the other regions out here?" A second one asked.
"That thought occurred to me as well," Link said, "but as I used the Song of Soaring to move towards a different location back when the Owl Statues were around, the whole area automatically flipped back to normal, as if negating the effects of the magic that allows the Stone Tower to be flipped like this."
"So what happens if you do fall down here?" The third Pirate asked.
"Beats me; you basically fall into the sky and probably land somewhere else. Either way, you're a goner if this happens." Link said.
Zelda shuddered as the group entered the next door, which led into a safe corridor with numerous crates stacked against the walls, the area being guarded by Two Blue Bubbles and one Green Bubble.
"Watch yourself around these Blue Bubbles; they can jinx you at the slightest touch!" Link said once the others were in the room, with Saria using a Light Arrow to instantly kill one of the Blue Bubbles.
Ruto did the same with the second Blue Bubble, while Zelda took out the Green Bubble once its green flames were temporarily extinguished.
"I wonder what's in the crates…" One of the Pirates said.
"Definitely some ammunition…" Link mused, opening one crate to see another multitude of arrows.
"At least they'll be put to good use… for us." Zelda said as she restocked along with Saria, while Nabooru discovered a crate with sealed bottles containing red and green potions.
"We should take these, just in case." Nabooru said.
"Right, some extra medical supplies can be useful," Link said, nodding, "although we should probably invest money into acquiring Blue Potions once we move back to Hyrule to take down Ganondorf and Majora once and for all."
"Blue Potions?" One of the Pirates asked.
"Yep. Blue potions basically combine the effects of the Red and Green potions, they can help in recovering from injuries quicker AND they will restore magic power if the one who drinks it is both wounded AND drained at the same time." Link said.
"A wise idea to invest in them then." Zelda said, nodding.
"I'm also considering to get us some Chateau Romani as well, so we'll have infinite magic power for the next three days." Link then said.
The group nodded as they entered the next room, after which the door closed behind them…
"What's going on here?!" Nabooru asked.
"Hmmm, I fought Gomess the last time I was here…" Link said, drawing his blade as he was ready to confront whatever was ahead.
"You have exceeded my expectations…" A dark voice then sounded… it was Ganondorf!
"Ganondorf!" Link and Zelda said, with Zelda also drawing her sword, just like Link…
"I never thought you'd be foolish enough to enter our domain here in Termina's Stone Tower and yet here you are, in complete defiance of my destiny as King of the World…" Ganondorf said with a dark chuckle.
"Screw you! All you want is power, while the people of Hyrule and Termina languish in poverty and starvation!" Zelda snapped.
"And don't think we've forgotten what you did to us not too long ago!" Nabooru snarled, also drawing her weapons, as did the other Sages and their Gerudo Pirate allies.
"It would be foolish of me to think just that, Nabooru… now that I know that death has been unable to stop you so far…" Ganondorf said.
"Then come here and show your face so we can put you in your place!" Link then said.
"Well, sounds like you got a talent for rhyming too, boy… a kid of many talents and with such a fighting spirit…" Ganondorf said as the area began to turn dark.
Immediately the Sages, Link and their allies were at full alert, keeping a close watch on each other, just as a figure approached them. It was as tall as Ganondorf himself, but instead of his face, it wore a skeletal-like helmet and was wielding a staff. It was Phantom Ganon!
"Out of all the beings…" Saria said, remembering how Phantom Ganon had captured her and trapped her within the Forest Temple, causing Link to go in and defeat him which in turn awakened her as a Sage in the first place.
"Brings back memories, huh?" Phantom Ganon said with a dark chuckle, twirling his staff around as if he was ready to attack.
Link and the Sages were ready to fight back, right before Phantom Ganon charged an electric sphere and fired it at the group, which Link intercepted and reflected it with his sword, which was returned again by Phantom Ganon. Link swatted it back again, which was again returned by their foe, with Link striking it back again. This time however, Phantom Ganon didn't strike it back, but wasn't hit by it either, even when it was directed towards him. Instead, Phantom Ganon moved to the right and charged at the group, staff forward with the intention to strike them directly. The group saw him coming and moved out of the way, with Link rolling to the side, recovering and, seeing he was now behind Phantom Ganon, fired a Light Arrow at him, striking the evil spirit from beyond, whom roared in pain as the light of justice struck him with force. Saria then used this as a ticket to slash Phantom Ganon several times before he knocked her aside with an electric punch. Saria yelped as she was hit like that, causing Link to retaliate with a second Light Arrow, although Phantom Ganon blocked it this time. However, this left him open for Nabooru who charged from the side, slashing at the fiend with her dual Gilded Scimitar Swords, doing substantial damage, before Phantom Ganon whacked her in the face with his staff, before using it to knock Zelda right into Link, after which he used and electric sphere to strike Link and Zelda both, causing the two children to scream in pain as the volatile electricity racked over their bodies. Ruto however used her Dual Fin Boomerangs to attack Phantom Ganon, with the latter avoiding the Fins, but leaving him open for a strike with the Magical Boomerang, stunning it so Rauru could strike it with his Light-based attacks, shortly followed by Darunia pounding on the evil spirit and Impa slashed at it using her daggers. The four Gerudo pirates assisted the group by smacking and stabbing Phantom Ganon with their glaives.
"You traitors!" Phantom Ganon snarled.
"Traitors?! Hah! Your eyes tell us that you simply were hungry for power! How can someone who even let people of their OWN KIND suffer be our King?!" One of the Pirates snarled.
"Putting us in your control to make us do your bidding is also an insult to what we stand for; we may be thieves or pirates, but even WE have standards, unlike you!" The Second pirate snapped.
"Pah! So you would rather stay confined to the desert or isolated into your fortress at the coast rather than being able to live in the other parts of the world without the harsh climate of the desert?!" Phantom Ganon asked.
"That is of no concern; our way of living is within OUR hands!" The third Pirate said.
"So be it then, you were always stubborn fools for defying me first time, but this time your defiance will cost you EVERYTHING!" Phantom Ganon said, swinging his staff like a bat or a club to knock the Pirates aside, right before Link and Zelda performed a Dual Back Slash on him, causing him to roar in pain before turning to face them, blocking their further strikes.
"You meddlesome kids! If you would have just stayed dead and given your powers to me, you wouldn't be dealing with this pain!" Phantom Ganon roared as he then moved his staff down in a stabbing motion to the two. Link and Zelda both avoided it, but the staff hit the ground near them, unleashing an electric force field that zapped Link and Zelda simultaneously, right before a Light Arrow courtesy of Saria stunned him, ceasing the field, after which Darunia grabbed Phantom Ganon by the neck and, with a fierce Goron Fire Punch, clobbered the fiend to the far side of the room, making Phantom Ganon grunt.
Angered, Phantom Ganon decided to deploy a new tactic and, in a style reminiscent of Meg, one of the Poe Sisters, summoned a total of three copies of himself to keep the group occupied and giving himself the chance to properly fight. These copies were just as tangible as he was, which in turn would make things harder. One of his copies faced the four freed Gerudo Pirates, the second one went up against Impa, Darunia and Rauru and the third clone faced Saria, Ruto and Nabooru, allowing the REAL Phantom Ganon to solely focus on Link and Zelda, who just got up after recovering from the electric force field that was unleashed on them. Phantom Ganon chuckled at seeing the angry expressions on the faces of the hero and the princess.
"Why so angry?" He taunted.
"You've done enough!" Link snarled.
"Hyrule and Termina are not yours to control!" Zelda added.
"On the contrary, Hyrule is already mine. And what I may lose here will be taken back." Phantom Ganon said, laughing.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Link and Zelda defiantly shouted, their blades ready.
"You two definitely have guts. I shall remember that when I end your pitiful lives and hand over your powers to my creator. He'll be very pleased to obtain those pieces of the Triforce that you have. Time to end this!" Phantom Ganon said, before rearing back and tossing his staff to the two.
Link and Zelda avoided the staff impaling them, but were too late to get out of the way in time; the staff landed between the two, with the outward spikes trapping the arms that held their respective swords against the wall, causing the two to grunt as they hit the wall, in effect making them drop their swords as Phantom Ganon approached them. Both Link and Zelda sent a glare of absolute death to the approaching fiend, subconsciously holding each other's hand as if giving each other some form of support for each other. Phantom Ganon merely chuckled.
"You two must have heard those cheesy children's stories during your upbringing, right? Those old stories of bad guy kidnapping or cursing princess, hero beats bad guy and rescues princess, princess kisses hero and they all live happy ever after, right? Well, THIS story will have the hero and the princess together… but this time in death!" Phantom Ganon said, grabbing his staff to make the bladed parts press tightly against the trapped arms, cutting a bit into them before letting loose another discharge of electricity on the two.
Zelda screamed in agony as the electricity ran over her body, but Link was merely grunting, gritting his teeth. He was in the same pain as Zelda was, but it didn't stop him from trying to resist it, summoning all the power he could muster as he gave yet another glare of death at Phantom Ganon, who paid no attention to it. Link used this however as he loosened the grip on his shield which was at his right arm, letting the shocks and shaking to make it loosen from the arm… right before Link grabbed the last handle of his shield and swung his shield to his left, clobbering Phantom Ganon in the face, stunning him which in turn ceased the attack of his on the two. Dropping his Red Shield for the moment afterwards, Link then grabbed the staff and began to pull it out of the wall, which was aided soon by a recovering Zelda, freeing their trapped arms which had now a fresh, bleeding cut, Fortunately the cut wasn't really deep, which in turn allowed to pick up their swords after tossing the staff aside, before both charged at Phantom Ganon and slashed across his chest together, as if dividing it in columns, before smashing their elbows in his face to make him fly to the far side of the room once again, giving the two some breathing room to pick up their shields, using the opportunity to aid the others by stunning the Phantom Ganon Clones by firing Light Arrows at them, giving their wounded friends the opportunity to finish the Clones off, regaining the focus on the Real Phantom Ganon.
Phantom Ganon himself got up and, being now furious after seeing his clones being defeated, he grabbed his staff and began to charge up a larger electric sphere, intending to electrocute everyone of the group to death. Link and Zelda however were having none of it and, seeing the sphere grow in size, they both launched another Light Arrow at the fiend, striking him and making him lose control of the sphere, making it hit him instead, giving the group a good view of Phantom Ganon's skeleton as he was zapped by his own attack. The group winced as the attack in particular was agonizing, hearing Phantom Ganon's distorted screams as he was being electrocuted for several seconds, before he laid still on the ground, his body still twitching due to the electric currents still zapping him.
"Is it over?" Nabooru asked as the group gathered once more, each of them showing injuries, one more than the other, but still alive.
"I hope so…" Link said, although he still had his Gilded Master Sword ready.
"You lot keep surprising me," Ganondorf's voice said, "it's as if you have become better… at a quicker rate than I expected at that."
The group remained silent, although Link and Zelda held onto Saria for support, with Saria using a lighter spell of hers to heal them.
"This is really something that I cannot ignore any longer, I guess I've gotten somewhat careless by underestimating your skill, a mistake that I do not intend on making again. The fact that I managed to kill some of you must have gotten to my head, although I did suspect that you would find a way to return to life. You managed to defeat my Phantom again and it is clear that you may succeed in cleansing the Stone Tower Temple… but don't think for a moment that your labors are completed! If you are really bent on ending all of this, then come to the new tower in which Majora and I reside… then we will see what the fate of Hyrule and Termina will eventually lead to." Ganondorf said.
"Your tower, huh?" Link asked, narrowing his eyes as the Phantom vanished into nothingness.
"Yes. I'll be generous this time and let the Princess stay with you lot," Ganondorf said, making Zelda blink, "considering that you care so much about her, she will simply share your eventual fate. Either way, our new lair awaits you. Come and get us, if you dare…" Ganondorf said, before his voice died off, the area becoming lighter again and the doors unlocking.
Finally the group could relax at this point, leaning on each other or their weapons, to rest up a bit and have their wounds checked, with Link and Zelda finally able to nurse their bleeding arms due to the staff having cut them there.
"Let's get out of here and finish the job, so we can prepare ourselves for our trip to Hyrule." Link said after a minute or two.
"Right. The sooner we have disabled this place as a stronghold, the better." Zelda said, as the group made their leave, moving back into the corridor with the Blue Bubbles, using the already opened crates to restock on Magic Power as well as arrows, while killing the Blue Bubbles along the way, ending back up in the Sky Room where they used the bridges to cross the area, heading for the other door they didn't access yet.
Once in the new room, they found themselves in the entrance of the Temple, bit this time at a lone platform at the opposite corner. Using his Light Arrow, Link flipped over a single Death Armos, before moving to it to taunt it into attacking him, making it crash into the ground while he used his shield to defend himself from the subsequent detonation. Then, he used his Hookshot to lock on a chest that was standing upside down above an upper platform in the middle of the room, hooking to it which took him to that platform, waiting for the others while moving on ahead to make space. Zelda and Saria both soon joined him, followed by Ruto.
"These things definitely have come in handy…" Saria said, observing her Hookshot.
"Indeed, huh?" Link said with a smile as Nabooru came towards them, having one of the Pirates with her.
The other Sages each took one of the Pirates as a passenger along, before they moved on in the next room, which was another bridge room that contained yet another Eyegore, but this time the door at the far side also had TWO Iron Knuckles guarding it. This time, Link took out the Eyegore using a charged Arrow shot, before the group focused on the two Iron Knuckles, letting them move forward one at a time so the group had the proper focus to take them out, using projectile attacks to take them out safely. Once that was done, the group moved on towards the room with the Spiked Roller, this time the room was more empty and had cracks and holes as well as burn marks in the wall, obviously from the detonation of some of the weapon supplies there. Using the Hookshots to move to the path on the higher area, they avoided the Beamos while moving on to the large door, entering it.
The group now found themselves in the same room as where they had fought the Darkhammer and its minions before, but now the room was flipped, with the hole in the center of the room now containing a sandpit. Having no other choice, the group hopped down into the sand pit and entered a vast desert area, where Link had once fought Twinmold with the aid of the Giant's Mask. Fortunately Twinmold wasn't present, but what they did see several Corrupt Soldiers around, as if they were here for a reason… it appeared they were guarding a device or something.
"What is this place?!" Link asked.
"It appears to be a sophisticated generator, but for what?" Zelda asked.
"I don't know for sure, but if those soldiers are around, it must be of importance to them as well as our nemeses." Impa said.
"Uh oh, they've clocked us!" Ruto said, seeing as several Assault Sword Soldiers indeed spotted the group and went on ahead to charge at the group.
"Time for a combined assault; some of us concentrate on taking down that device, the others will keep these soldiers off their backs!" Link said.
"Right." Impa said.
"And now is a good time to test these out…" Link said, setting up a Bomb Arrow to use as he took aim at a part of the device, firing it while Darunia, Zelda and Saria covered him.
The Bomb Arrow hit its mark, exploding upon impact and damaging the device. This did alert the other Soldiers, which in turn ignited the battle ahead.
The four Gerudo Pirates provided assistance by keeping several Assault Sword Soldiers at bay as the group fought, allowing Link, Saria and Zelda to take out other targets from a great distance using their arrows. The 'Burst' ability that the Ancient Fire Sage gave them proved very helpful as not only it allowed to take out a target with a single strike, it also allowed taking out multiple targets within the arrow's path, giving them some breathing room before using Bomb Arrows to take out Bow Soldiers and Assault Spear Soldiers, before firing at the device to damage it from a distance. This proved to be quite helpful as the machine was now taking damage enough for parts of it to come off and fall down to the ground, as if the outer part was a form of armor for the machine's core, that held a sphere inside in place, as if it was placed there with magic. Darunia, Rauru, Impa and Nabooru aided the Gerudo Pirates with fending off the Sword Soldiers, while Ruto used her Boomerangs to stun any of them that came too close for comfort, giving Link, Saria and Zelda the time needed to pelt the device with Bomb Arrows, which began to gradually take more damage as multiple explosions were seen during impacts of each Bomb Arrow, with the core itself beginning to take damage. The assault kept going until Link, Saria and Zelda simultaneously fired a Bomb Arrow directly at the core, striking it perfectly which in turn caused the core to take critical damage, beginning to shut down and get showered in explosions, which began to destroy the machine, causing the remaining Corrupted Soldiers to watch in horror as their machine was destroyed. In anger, the remaining Soldiers tried to attack the group, but were struck down without much trouble. Once the battle was over, the group would notice a portal appearing that would take them back to Ikana Canyon, this time back in the normal, non-flipped/inverted state.
Once back in Ikana Canyon, the group breathed a sigh of relief as they saw the dark clouds around the Stone Tower dissipating, indicating they had destroyed the root of evil there so far…
"That's one trouble less." Link said, taking off his cap for a moment to scratch his head there before wiping some sweat away.
"I'll say." Saria said.
Nabooru then turned to the four Pirates that were still present, seeing they had a look of sadness and/or resignation on their faces, making the Gerudo leader sigh.
"We're sorry for the loss of your comrades…" She said.
"Thank you." The first Pirate said.
"Do you have an idea of where to go next?" Link then asked.
"No… we would have gone back to our Fortress in Great Bay, but it's still heavily guarded by comrades whom either willingly or forcibly serve Ganondorf and his cronies, so with our state of being now, we can't go there."
"What about we'll let you meet up with a similar band of Gerudo that is also wandering around? Maybe Reimu or Leia can be of assistance to you." Nabooru said.
"You really want to do that for us?" The second pirate asked.
"Sure; it's on our route anyway." Zelda said with a smile.
"Thank you." The Gerudo said, smiling.
"Then let's go. I have no intention to stay here any longer." Ruto said.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Link said as he moved on towards Ikana River.