Chapter 43: Onto the high mountains

A large boat was sailing its way over the ocean ahead, moving in a straight line towards its destination. On the boat were a total of eight people: four adults and four children. The trip itself went uneventful as Link and the Seven Sages just waited, with Rauru and Darunia steering the boat, while the others sat near them. As they did, they studied their newly upgraded weapons, as a gift of one of the Great Fairies they had encountered not too long ago, which in turn left the group with stronger weapons than ever. Link sat against the wall on the deck area behind Rauru and Darunia, obviously contemplating things. For a brief moment, he drew his sword to observe the now pure-golden blade area, feeling it brim with power to smite evil of any sort, before putting it back in its scabbard, sighing. He knew that the upcoming days would be hard, perhaps even suicidal. But to save their lands, he would gladly do it.
"A Rupee for your thoughts?" Ruto asked as she sat next to him.
Link looked towards her.
"Oh, nothing much. Just thinking about the days to come." Link said.
"It's going to be quite tough for us, huh?"
"You bet. Which is why I hope that this time we will be victorious…"
"We all hope so. I am certain we'll make it through, as long as we stick together and watch over each other closely."
"Indeed." Link said, nodding.
"And there's no way back for us at all, I assume…" Ruto then said.
"No. We've gotten too far now to turn our backs and hide or go with another training course. By the time we think we are prepared, Ganondorf and Majora will likely have made their fort impenetrable so no one can be of a decent threat to them anymore and they could take us out in a blink of an eye. We must end this now before both Hyrule and Termina will be left in a state worse than it has been before with all the monsters and cursed people around." Link said, nodding.
Ruto nodded, sighing herself.
"It sounds a bit poetic, that only a handful of people are even remotely capable of mounting a proper defense against evil…" Ruto said.
Link chuckled.
"I bet that songs will be sung about the events in the days to come." Link said.
"I hope it will be happy ones that tell about us overcoming evil…" Ruto said.
Link laughed at this.
"Trust me, Ruto. If we manage to win from Ganondorf and Majora both, I'd accept nothing less than a full opera." He said, making Princess Ruto chuckle at this.
"That's definitely something that will be enjoyed by everyone." She said.
"Besides, we already died once and I don't intend to die again, unless it's of old age." Link said.
"We all feel the same on that." Ruto said.
Link nodded with a smile, acknowledging that even Ruto has mellowed out somewhat due to the seriousness of the situation as a whole. Where she was once boasting a little to be Link's self-proclaimed fiancé due to the importance of Zora's Sapphire to her, it appeared as if she was given a reality check due to events of the Future That Almost Was, coupled with what has transpired with her too over the past several weeks…

Upon reaching the mountain area, already the group could feel a cold wind blowing over the area.
"Geez, reminds me of Snowhead with its winter climate, but without the blizzard." Link said.
"Yeah, it's only typical for them to stick around the mountainous area." Zelda said.
"I wonder why Ganondorf and Majora have made their fort all the way over here instead of just replacing Hyrule Castle…" Impa said.
"They either wanted something bigger around to house their soldiers and prisoners, make things overall tougher for us, or they could have chosen the place to make us fade in obscurity in case we fall by their hands. I intend to prove them otherwise, no doubt about that, but it's a possibility." Link said.
"Given their overall powers and their animosity for us, I see no reason to doubt your reasoning for thinking like that." Rauru said as he slowed down the ship and prepared it for docking alongside the pier.
The others nodded as the cold wind blew over the deck as Rauru docked the ship at the pier, making sure the net was out for the group to climb off.
"Still plenty of snow around…" Saria said as the group got off their ship and onto the pier, before walking into a cavern that led to the mountain trail towards the new Tower of Ganondorf and Majora.
"Let's hope we don't catch a cold underway." Darunia said.
"It would be quite messy if we did." Link said with a chuckle.

After climbing over a stack of crates that were set up almost like a makeshift staircase, Link and the Seven Sages arrived at the first part of the new mountain area, landing on a small path which had the road blocked to their left by means of a large pine tree. The path continued to their right, only for them to come face to face with yet ANOTHER Iron Knuckle. This one was clad in black armor and stood silent as a statue while holding its fearsome battle axe in his hands.
"Time to test these babies out." Link said, preparing a Silver Light Arrow to strike the Iron Knuckle with.
It immediately took damage and awoke, approaching the group as Saria took a shot herself, damaging it further. Zelda shot a Silver Light Arrow at it, making the Iron Knuckle lose its outer armor, which in turn made it faster as it now ran to the group. Thankfully Ruto assisted with first her Nice Boomerang to stun the Iron Knuckle as well as damaging it, before Link, Saria and Zelda took it out for good using their Silver Light Arrows. This in turn gave the group now room to progress, but in the distance they could see what appeared to be giant snowballs rolling against the wall at the far side of the path the heroes stood on.
"Hmmm, looks like we'll need fire based attacks to help with this." Link said.
"I'll go ahead using my Fire Punches to cover you. Just cover me using your Fire Arrows." Darunia said.
"Right." Zelda said, giving the group a plan to progress.

With Darunia taking the lead, the group went onward, taking a turn to the left to enter the larger path up ahead, directly confronting the giant Snowballs heading to them. Darunia simply Fire-Punched those in his path, while Link, Saria and Zelda backed him up with Silver Fire Arrows, instantly obliterating any Snowball that was hit by them. Moving on, they climbed their way carefully to a higher ledge using nearby rocks and crates, with Darunia, Link, Saria and Zelda still keeping the Giant Snowballs at bay as much as they could to give the others time to join them. Once on the higher ledge, the group saw another Iron Knuckle standing there in position.
"We'll handle the Iron Knuckle, just cover us with the Snowballs." Impa said to Zelda.
"Understood." Zelda said, nodding as the entire group went on the offensive, with Link aiding the group engaging the Iron Knuckle with the best of his abilities, while also helping to strike any incoming Snowballs that would form a hazard to the others.

The Iron Knuckle was this time a bit more challenging to deal with due to the snowballs continuously rolling by. The Fire Punches and Silver Fire Arrows proved of great assistance to them, which made the fight somewhat easier as the Snowballs didn't pose much of a threat, allowing the major focus on the Iron Knuckle instead. Once it was defeated, although Impa narrowly avoided a swing of its axe, the group climbed their way to a higher area, going further up another ledge to see a cage on a larger area of flat ground. Breaking it open, the group blinked to see a villager of Hyrule Castle Town being released from it. The villager was an old man wearing a blue suit. As the group went to him, the flow of the rolling snowballs stopped.
"Huh? You… came to free me?" He asked.
"That we did." Link said.
The man then saw Princess Zelda.
"Your Highness, it is an honor to meet you in person." He then said, bowing politely.
Zelda nodded.
"Rise, civilian. Do you know what's going on around here?" She asked.
"This area is the outer section of the greatest stronghold of the Evil King so far. I overheard some of the Stalfos around here say that their actual headquarters lies around here somewhere. The stronghold itself, being a massive tower, cannot be accessed unless a barrier that protects its entrance has been disabled. This barrier is powered by generators that look like a sophisticated machine using Terminan technology, one of them is located in the Stone Tower Temple." He replied.
"So THAT was what the machine we saw was for! That explains their significance to the soldiers out here!" Link said, reaching an epiphany.
"How many generators are there?" Darunia asked.
"So far, I overheard that three of such generators exist, one of them being located in the Stone Tower Temple. The other two are located both somewhere in this area as well as in the actual headquarters itself, the one located out here being a small back-up generator to the main one in case it has to be taken off-line for maintenance." The man said.
"Looks like we have a job to do on top of this." Nabooru said.
"Be warned; these generators are likely to be heavily defended, so make sure you are well-prepared when you find them."
"Thanks for the heads up. You should better get out of here as things will go hectic out here very soon." Link said.
"There's a boat we've taken here that will allow you to get out of here. I suggest hiding around and wait until other prisoners have been freed so you can make your escape." Zelda said.
"Alright, thank you very much." The man said, before taking his leave.

After the man was gone, the group used their Clawshots to reach a higher ledge, from which they moved onto a bridge that led to a greater platform, with wooden structures being in place as if something was under construction, perhaps something more akin to a Lookout post. No sooner had they arrived on the area when several Stalfos and Dinolfos arrived in the area to attack the group. Using their upgraded blades, the Dinolfos were dealt with rather easily, while the Stalfos were still tougher to beat, even though the heroes' superior weapons allowed them to deal significantly more damage than before. But the group was not allowed to rest after this short battle; two more lizard-like beings arrived in the area… by flight! They looked similar to the Dinolfos and Lizalfos, which indicated that they were related, but these lizard creatures sported wings as well as a sword and shield. These were Aeralfos, whom took position around the group.
"What in the world?!" Zelda asked.
"Hey, those shields look like they have some kind of grating on them…" Impa said, just as the Aeralfos got in a defensive position and charged at the group from two sides.
Link, Zelda, Saria and Nabooru were hit, Ruto, Darunia and Rauru avoided it and Impa side-stepped the Aeralfos, striking one of them in the back with a Silver Arrow, making it yelp in pain. However, the two Aeralfos took back in the air, ready to dive down again. Link however spotted what appeared to be a grating-like pattern on the shield, so he decided to wait until the shield was moved forward again, which was something the Aeralfos seemed to do before charging in with a dive attack. Immediately, Link grabbed his Clawshot, aimed and fired at the shield, the claw latching onto it, much to the shock of the Aeralfos itself.
"COME HERE!" Link snapped, retracting the claw which dragged the Aeralfos towards him, before clobbering it with his own shield, dazing it, after which Link knocked the creature down and performed the Ending Blow on it, killing it instantly.
Seeing this, Saria performed the same action Link did just before the second Aeralfos could dive down on them, also using the Shield Attack followed by the Ending Blow to defeat it, bringing victory for the group.

"That was unexpected; they're bringing in air support now?!" Ruto asked once the battle is over.
"They obviously must have been here for a reason, I can't think of anything else other than them wanting to kill us." Link said.
"Perhaps they're here to protect something?" Saria said.
"That old man did say something about a back-up generator for a barrier that supposedly prevents us from entering Ganondorf and Majora's lair, so we may be quite close to where it has been placed." Zelda said.
"Let's take a good look around here then…" Link said as he moved toward the wooden platform that he could reach easily, intending to use it to climb his way up.
The others followed as Link approached an apparent dead end, but then Navi moved on and was floating in place at a small distance ahead.
"What's the matter, Navi?" Link asked.
"There must be something here, Link," Navi said, "perhaps your Ocarina can help with this?"
"The Lens of Truth only shows a few platforms that are out of our reach…" Impa said.
"And how is the ocarina going to help?" Ruto asked.
"Perhaps if I do this…" Link said, before playing the Song of Time on his Ocarina.
Instantly a blue glow appeared in the air, as blocks with the symbol of the Door of Time on every side were generated right before the group's eyes.
"Well, you have your answer." Nabooru said with a smile.
Ruto smiled as well, while Link got on the first block, moving onward and making his way up towards the invisible platforms which Impa saw.

Just before Link wanted to turn to the right, he saw what appeared to be tracks in a crevice to his left. Feeling that this was a bit out of place, he hopped over to it, seeing that the tracks led into a path he hadn't seen right away from the ground up, the trees at the edge having hidden it well as well. His curiosity peeked, he went to investigate, following the tracks along the way, with the others behind him. They eventually arrived in a large room with what appeared to be a cart on the tracks and a total of five doorways around, almost in a six-way pattern.
"What is this?! Is this like an abandoned mine or something?!" Zelda asked.
"That's possible, but I wonder what is out here…" Impa said.
It was then that Link heard the eerie sound of something coming from above.
"Oh for Nayru's sake, not THESE guys again?!" He said, jumping forward to avoid a Wallmaster, which landed on the spot where he just stood, with Ruto taking it out in a single strike of her Golden Zora Sword.
However, before Link could thank her, he was suddenly hit in the back with something, right before Saria was met with a similar treatment, causing Link and Saria to crash into each other, knocking them out for the moment.
"What the-?!" Zelda asked, before she was hit at the side of her head, also rendered unconscious.
Impa instantly put on the Lens of Truth and discovered to her shock that there were not one, not two, but FOUR Invisible Floormasters in the area, which turned their attention to the remaining Sages. Gathering his own power, Darunia raised his hand in the air, gathering his powers, before smashing it on the ground, creating a geyser of fire-based energy that promptly incinerated the Floormasters, making them split in three, although most of the smaller Floormasters were caught in the remains of the Fire Geyser, instantly incinerated as well, while Impa struck swiftly to take out the others before they could siphon the energy of the others to grow back to their normal size. Taking the unconscious three with them, the group moved on into the central shaft, where they heard a humming sound as if something was being produced there. As they arrived in a single room, they could see a smaller adaptation of the device they had seen in the Stone Tower Temple before, the humming sound waking the three up.
"What the-?! What happened? Where are we?" Link asked, shaking his head to remove the stars out of his vision.
"I think we may have found the back-up Generator." Impa said, whom had crouched down near him and Zelda, while Nabooru intercepted another Wallmaster and let it land on her swords, impaling it in the process which meant its death as well.
"Wow, so the back-up generator is here, huh?" Zelda asked.
"Yep, but it looks protected against bombs." Impa said.
"Perhaps this Powder Keg can be of help." Darunia said, lighting up a Powder Keg and laid it in front of the Generator's main power supply, before the group made their way out to take cover.
With a loud explosion, the Powder Keg detonated, the force of it severely damaging the power generator, which caused it to overload and began to explode itself, destroying the generator in the process. Feeling the explosions, the group decided to make a run for it to outside and into the invisible platforms outside, with Impa leading on to make them visible for the group. No sooner were they outside and about halfway over the platforms, when a fireball blasted outside the mineshaft, causing the entrance to it to collapse and the snow that was on top of it to move down, creating an avalanche that made a more safer path to travel down on at the bottom, while also making one of the invisible platforms directly visible because of it.
"Whew, that was a close call." Link said.
"I'll say. At least that back-up generator's destroyed, so we won't be bothered by it anymore." Zelda said.
"Let's continue on, our job's done here." Rauru said.

Moving into a different mineshaft, the group went first with a curve to the right, then to the left, where another barrier was blocking their path. With the barrier having the same appearance as the one seen in the Stalfos Outpost within the forest, Darunia knew that a Powder Keg could break them, but he used the one to destroy the generator before and this time there were no chests around. Link wasn't giving up and instead tried to charge up a Silver Bomb Arrow.
"Take cover!" Darunia said, before the group moved behind Link.
Link then fired the Charged Silver Bomb Arrows, which made him shoot three at once, which blasted the barrier to bits!
"Wow, it takes a bit of time, but it gets the job done." Link said, blinking.
"I'll say, but we may need to conserve ammo sooner or later." Zelda said as the group then ventured through the open door, coming across what appeared to be a small look-out post or a wooden framework that allowed soldiers to climb up the higher path at the far side of the area. Overlooking the path, as if guarding it, was a single Bomb Soldier, whom instantly began to toss bombs in the direction of the group once it spotted them, only to be taken out by a single Silver Bomb Arrow courtesy of Zelda, giving the group the opportunity to climb up to the far side of the area over the wooden platforms. Once having reached the higher path, the group made their way along towards another mineshaft, taking out a single Lizalfos along the way and climbing a ladder at the end of the short tunnel, which led to a higher-laid path, leading to a cliff where at the bottom was another snow-covered path leading to a frozen pond with a frozen waterfall. Directly ahead was another Lizalfos, accompanied by another Bomb Soldier, both of whom were easily taken out, although Link caught the bomb that the Bomb Soldier threw and tossed it away before its explosion could do any harm, exploding harmlessly in the air instead.
"Wow, this area's big." Nabooru commented.
"Sounds fitting for a stronghold to me." Darunia said as the group moved to a nearby ladder and climbed down onto the path leading to the frozen waterfall, where a doorway was between two slabs of ice, sealed with the same wooden barrier the group had seen before and a single Moblin was guarding it.
Seeing this, the group waited while Link took out the Barrier with another Charged Silver Bomb Arrow, while Zelda used a regular Silver Arrow to take out the Moblin. Afterwards, the group went into an open doorway, which led into a tunnel where a chest was in the center. Opening the chest, the group found a large bundle of arrows to use with their bow, increasing their supply of Silver Arrows along the way. Exiting the tunnel led the group into a single room in the outside field, with towering wooden structures present that did serve as a Lookout post for real, occupied by three Lizalfos, two Moblins and three Bomb Soldiers. Immediately two of the Lizalfos jumped down to ground level to confront the group, ready to attack. Rauru and Impa took out the two Lizalfos with ease, but then the Bomb Soldier came to ground level, tossing a bomb at the group. Saria, imitating Link on this, caught the Bomb and tossed it back to the Bomb Soldier this time, damaging it when it detonated. The Bomb Soldier on its turn got angry and tossed a sudden cluster of FIVE bombs at once to the group, making them scatter in order to stay out of their blast radius. At the same time, Saria managed to fire a Silver Arrow at the Bomb Soldier, defeating it, which in turn allowed the group to climb up the first wooden platform. No sooner had they arrived there, when a second Bomb Soldier landed on the bridge, while the first of the two Moblins arrived and got ready to charge at the group, while the third Lizalfos stood behind him, moving as if taunting the group. Launching a Silver Arrow himself, Link took out the charging Moblin, whom knocked the Bomb Soldier off the bridge in its fall, where Saria tossed a bomb after him to defeat it. Zelda used a ray of her own magic power to blast the taunting Lizalfos to bits, before the group moved on over the bridge to the second wooden platform.

Just as Saria worked on making vines for the group to climb onto the higher part of the second platform, the third Bomb Soldier arrived, along with the second Moblin and two Dinolfos, the latter two jumped off a high part of the mountain and onto the far side of the area, onto a ledge near the third wooden tower. Darunia defeated the Bomb Soldier with ease, while Nabooru used a Golden Sword Spark to kill the Moblin instantly, leaving only the Dinolfos to deal with. Link and Zelda both successfully pulled off the Mortal Draw against them, finally defeating all the enemies in the area . Darunia in the meantime broke open a cage, freeing a Goron in the process.
"Thanks for rescuing me." The Goron said, whom gave Darunia a free Powder Keg in gratitude.
"No problem." Darunia said, smiling as he felt a bit of pride coming to him for being able to aid a comrade in their time of need.
"Be careful around here though, the road to the Headquarters is near here, but the base is SWARMING with enemies." The Goron said.
"Don't worry, we can take them on."
"Are you sure? I've overheard that some of the weaker enemies have now received armor to increase their defenses against you; their testing ground is within these headquarters and the tower itself."
"We are sure. Rest assured, comrade; the enemy won't last long." Darunia said, turning to the others, whom nodded with confidence to him.
"Very well. I must urge you to remain cautious; the headquarters is located underground, so be wary of areas that will have either lava or molten steel around."
"Alright, thanks for the heads up."
"Don't mention it." The Goron said, before leaving the area himself. Following after him, the group went back through the tunnel and into the area that now had platforms to the right the group had to climb up on, with yet another Moblin arriving in the area, only for Nabooru to take it out with yet another Golden Sword Spark.

With the enemies dealt with, the group began to climb on top of the platforms to the right to make their way up to a higher path on the far side of the area.
"Evening is about to fall…" Ruto said, looking up in the sky.
"Indeed. We may have found the headquarters either during the night or otherwise during the next day." Rauru said.
"But we can't stop now to rest though; we may freeze to death if we do." Impa said.
"I have a feeling we won't be able to have any rest in the upcoming time, we'd better prepare for the worst." Link said.
"Agreed. Our lives and those of the people in Hyrule and Termina depend on this." Zelda said.
"But what if Ganondorf and Majora are still too strong?" Saria asked.
"Thinking of the worst case, huh?" Nabooru asked.
"It is a possibility," Darunia said, "but even if that is the case, we will show them that they are not invulnerable."
"Indeed. And I intend to spend every bit of my energy in fighting them until I can't fight no more. And as far as I'm concerned, I'll fight them until my very last breath." Link said, determination shining in his eyes.
"Hahahaha! That's the spirit, brother! Songs will be sung of your outrageous courage and determination." Darunia said, patting Link's shoulder.
"Majora said that we were thorns in the sides of Ganondorf and Majora. How long can they survive our stings?" Nabooru said with a smirk.
Impa, while remaining serious, nodded with a smile.
"Either way, we will make them pay." She said, just as the group went through another tunnel, headed for the next area.